•  39
    Beauty and language
    British Journal of Aesthetics 47 (3): 258-267. 2007.
    I argue against Hume and Kant, who maintain that ‘beauty’ expresses a state of the subject, rather than describes features of the object. The word ‘beauty’ is far from being alone in having an expressive dimension, and that which it has falls short of individuating it semantically. Instead, I propose a theory of linguistic idealism with respect to ‘beauty’
  •  17
    12 Modern Philosophers (edited book)
    with Christopher Belshaw
    Wiley-Blackwell. 2009.
    Featuring essays from leading philosophical scholars, __12 Modern Philosophers__ explores the works, origins, and influences of twelve of the most important late 20th Century philosophers working in the analytic tradition. Draws on essays from well-known scholars, including Thomas Baldwin, Catherine Wilson, Adrian Moore and Lori Gruen Locates the authors and their oeuvre within the context of the discipline as a whole Considers how contemporary philosophy both draws from, and contributes to, the…Read more
  •  1
  •  22
    Pictorial representation is one of the core questions in aesthetics and philosophy of art. What is a picture? How do pictures represent things? This collection of specially commissioned chapters examines the influential thesis that the core of pictorial representation is not resemblance but 'seeing-in', in particular as found in the work of Richard Wollheim. We can see a passing cloud _as_ a rabbit, but we also see a rabbit _in_ the clouds. 'Seeing-in' is an imaginative act of the kind employed …Read more
  •  239
    Editors' Introduction
    In Frederique Janssen-Lauret & Gary Kemp (eds.), Quine and His Place in History, Palgrave. pp. 1-7. 2014.
    Editors' introduction which discusses Quine's place in the history of analytic philosophy and the content of the papers collected in this volume.
  • Western philosophy since Descartes has been marked by certain seminal books whose concern is the nature and scope of human knowledge. After Descartes Meditations, works by Locke, Berkeley, Hume and Kant are perhaps the most familiar and enduringly influential examples. Quine’s Word and Object (1960) does not conspicuously announce itself as a successor to these, but that is very much what it is. And after Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations, it is amongst the most likely of the philosoph…Read more
  •  169
    Pushing Wittgenstein and Quine Closer Together
    Journal for the History of Analytical Philosophy 2 (10). 2014.
    As against the view represented here by Peter Hacker and John Canfield, I urge that the philosophies of Quine and Wittgenstein can be reconciled. Both replace the orthodox view of language as resting on reference: Quine with the notion of linguistic disposition, Wittgenstein with the notions of grammar and forms of life. I argue that Wittgenstein's insistence, in the rule-following discussion, that at bottom these are matters of practice, of ‘what we do’, is not only compatible in a rough sort o…Read more
  •  61
    Frege's sharpness requirement
    Philosophical Quarterly 46 (183): 168-184. 1996.