Skip to Main Content

Knowledge and Reality: Selected Essays

Online ISBN:
9780191598012
Print ISBN:
9780199251582
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

Knowledge and Reality: Selected Essays

Colin McGinn
Colin McGinn

Professor of Philosophy

Rutgers University, New Jersey
Find on
Published online:
1 November 2003
Published in print:
7 February 2002
Online ISBN:
9780191598012
Print ISBN:
9780199251582
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

Knowledge and Reality brings together a selection of Colin McGinn's philosophical essays from the mid 1970s to the late 1990s, whose unifying theme is the relation between mind and reality. The essays are divided into three groups (‘Knowledge and Necessity’, ‘Thought and World’, and ‘Reality and Appearance’) and range over several topics of recent interest, including the analysis of knowledge, the a priori, necessity, possible worlds, externalism, essentialism, realism, mental representation, intentionality, and colour. While all but one essay has been previously published elsewhere, McGinn has provided a new postscript to each essay, placing it in its philosophical context by sketching the background against which it was written, explaining its relations to other notable work, and offering his current reflections on the topic. The volume thus traces the development of McGinn's ideas and their role in some central philosophical debates. Seen together McGinn's essays bear out his commitment to ‘not making the world depend upon our means of knowing about it’, offering a many‐sided defence of realism, while emphasizing the epistemological price that realism exacts.

Contents
Close
This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

Close

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

View Article Abstract & Purchase Options

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Close