Twentieth Century Western Philosophy Translation Series · Mind · Language and Society

Author: John Searle
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-03-01
Features: John Searle (1932-) is one of the most influential analytical philosophers in contemporary America, renowned for his research on the philosophy of language and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. This book is a concise and accessible philosophical work, but it is neither an overview of various philosophical problems nor a brief history of philosophical problems. Instead, it is an important philosophical work summarizing Searle's research over more than 40 years. The book analyzes the structural characteristics of the mind, language, and social reality, as well as their logical dependencies on one another, and elucidates how they are integrated. Contemporary American and British analytical and linguistic philosophy often focuses on propositions and words, neglecting fundamental philosophical questions. Searle applies the perspective of the philosophy of language to the study of the mind-body problem, bringing the philosophy of language back to the fundamental questions of traditional philosophy. Moreover, in this book, Searle incorporates research from modern science, particularly neurophysiology, neurobiology, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, as well as economics and sociology, enriching the theoretical content and significantly breaking through the traditional framework of analytical philosophy.