Proposing a new account of the nature of language, founded upon an original interpretation of Wittgenstein, Patricia Hanna and Bernard Harrison deny the existence of a direct referential relationship between words and things. Their provocative re-examination of the interrelations of language and social practice will interest not only philosophers of language but also linguists, psycholinguists, and students of communication.

Proposing a new account of the nature of language, founded upon an original interpretation of Wittgenstein, Patricia Hanna and Bernard Harrison deny the existence of a direct referential relationship between words and things. Their provocative re-examination of the interrelations of language and social practice will interest not only philosophers of language but also linguists, psycholinguists, and students of communication.

More than being a volume about the philosophy of Bernard Harrison, this volume is about how Harrison conceptualizes the creation of the human world. One might be tempted to classify Harrison as a major voice in many diverse discussions philosophy of literature, philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, color studies, epistemology, metaphysics, moral philosophy, philosophy of culture, Wittgenstein, antisemitism, and more without recognizing a unifying strand that ties them together. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Harrison contests and destabilizes a persistent and misleading...