ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we return to an issue which loomed large in Chapter 3: the relationship between the philosophy of language and metaphysics. Philosophers no longer believe the positivist idea that philosophy of language can enable us to dispense with metaphysical debate: instead, the philosophy of language has come to be viewed as a tool we might use in attempting to get clearer on what metaphysical questions are and on how they might be answered. In particular, philosophy of language has come to be regarded as central in the metaphysical debates between realists and their opponents. The literature on this topic is vast and complex: in this chapter our aim is simply to provide a rough map of some of the main territory. Inter alia, we will also introduce some issues about the relationship between language, mind, and world: in particular, about the relationship between a speaker’s grasp of sense and facts about the nature of his worldy environment.
