The Limits of Realism

Author: Tim Button

Tim Button explores the relationship between minds, words, and world. He argues that the two main strands of scepticism are deeply related and can be overcome, but that there is a limit to how much we can show. We must position ourselves somewhere between internal realism and external realism, and we cannot hope to say exactly where.

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Tim Button explores the relationship between words and world; between semantics and scepticism. A certain kind of philosopherthe external realistworries that appearances might be radically deceptive; we might all, for example, be brains in vats, stimulated by an infernal machine. But anyone who entertains the possibility of radical deception must also entertain a further worry: that all of our thoughts are totally contentless. That worry is just incoherent. Wecannot, then, be external realists, who worry about the possibility of radical deception. Equally, though, we cannot be internal realists, who reject all possibility of deception. We must position ourselvessomewhere between internal realism and external realism, but we cannot hope to say exactly where. We must be realists, for what that is worth, and realists within limits. In establishing these claims, Button critically explores and develops several themes from Hilary Putnam's work: the model-theoretic arguments; the connection between truth and justification; the brain-in-vat argument; semantic externalism; and conceptual relativity. The Limits of Realism establishes the continued significanceof these topics for all philosophers interested in mind, logic, language, or the possibility of metaphysics.

Critic Reviews

“The clear, insightful, but rather innocent, analysis of Putnam's views on internal and external realism is suddenly turned into a subtle and subversive critique of fashionable metametaphysical positions.”

This book is exceedingly excellent, weaving together scholarship and philosophical thought of the highest quality; reading and thinking carefully about it will undoubtedly prove fruitful for anyone interested in such matters. I am really confident that it will structure the debate about realism for years to come.'Nathan Wildman, Zeitschrift für philosophische Forschung'Lieven Decock, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

About the Author

Tim Button completed his PhD in Cambridge. From 2010 to 2012 he was a research fellow at St. John's College, Cambridge. In 2012, he was appointed to the position of University Lecturer at Cambridge, where he remains a fellow of St John's. He has also recently been a visiting scholar at the University of Texas Austin, and a visiting fellow at Harvard University.

More on this Book

Tim Button explores the relationship between words and world; between semantics and scepticism. A certain kind of philosopherthe external realistworries that appearances might be radically deceptive; we might all, for example, be brains in vats, stimulated by an infernal machine. But anyone who entertains the possibility of radical deception must also entertain a further worry: that all of our thoughts are totally contentless. That worry is just incoherent. We cannot, then, be external realists, who worry about the possibility of radical deception. Equally, though, we cannot be internal realists, who reject all possibility of deception. We must position ourselves somewhere between internal realism and external realism, but we cannot hope to say exactly where. We must be realists, for what that is worth, and realists within limits. In establishing these claims, Button critically explores and develops several themes from Hilary Putnam's work: the model-theoretic arguments; the connection between truth and justification; the brain-in-vat argument; semantic externalism; and conceptual relativity. The Limits of Realism establishes the continued significance of these topics for all philosophers interested in mind, logic, language, or the possibility of metaphysics.