There are four chapters devoted to laying out the basic contours of the externalist question, while the final three chapters consider three influential lines of objection to semantic externalism. The exposition hews to a well-focused discussion of influential arguments in the literature, giving careful, fair-minded consideration to both sides of the debate. The book focuses on linguistic meaning and the content of propositional attitudes, explicitly setting aside externalism about the content of sensory states. To this end, Kallestrup provides chapter summaries and very helpful guides to further reading at the end of each chapter, as well as a glossary of technical terms at the back of the book. The book is part of the useful 'New Problems of Philosophy' series edited by José Luis Bermúdez, which provides opinionated guides to key philosophical issues suitable for advanced undergraduate and graduate students seeking to get up to speed on a recent debate. Kallestrup's aim, in contrast, is to give an even-handed guide to the general terrain. Other recent monographs have focused on examining whether and how semantic externalism is compatible with privileged access to the contents of one's own thoughts (Brown 2004 Goldberg 2007 Stalnaker 2008 Gertler 2010), or they have sought to defend an internalist account of content against the prevailing externalist orthodoxy (Segal 2000 Farkas 2008 Mendola 2008 Chalmers 2012). This volume is the first book-length general survey of influential arguments for and against semantic externalism. Recent efforts to revive semantic internalism all start from the presumption that their audience will be convinced that externalism is true. Thanks to the seminal work of Donnellan, Kripke, Putnam, and Burge, however, semantic externalism has become the new orthodoxy. Back in the 1970s the idea that the semantic content of a person's words and thoughts depend essentially on facts about her external environment was a radical thesis. Semantic externalism is often summed up with Hilary Putnam's famous slogan, 'meanings just ain't in the head'.
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