Reality and Representation

by David Papineau

This book defends realism from a naturalistic perspective. Criticizing the view of philosophers such as Hilary Putnam, Michael Dummett and Donald Davidson, the author argues that representation is a natural, biological phenomenon, which needs to be analyzed in teleological terms, and he shows that such an analysis implies reality and human judgment are conceptually quite independent of each other. Papineau explains how it is possible for human beliefs to be justified as representations of reality. He then argues that humans can avoid error, and justify their beliefs, by taking practical steps to ensure that their various perceptual and inferential habits are reliable for truth. The work is primarily concerned with judgments about the natural world, but it also attends to the problems of moral, mathematical and logical truth, and offers special non-realist theories of these kinds of knowledge. It also contains discussion of linguistic meaning, perception, the nature of mental states, induction and the relevance of history of science to epistemology.

264 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1987

About the author

David Papineau ( born 1947) is a British academic philosopher, born in Como, Italy.[1] He works as Professor of Philosophy of Science at King's College London and the City University of New York Graduate Center having previously taught for several years at Cambridge University where he was a fellow of Robinson College.

Papineau was born in Italy and grew up in Trinidad, England and South Africa.[citation needed] He received a BSc in mathematics from the University of Natal and a BA and PhD in philosophy from the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Ian Hacking.

He has worked in metaphysics, epistemology, and the philosophies of science, mind, and mathematics. His overall stance is naturalist and realist. He is one of the originators of the teleosemantic theory of mental representation, a solution to the problem of intentionality which derives the intentional content of our beliefs from their biological purpose. He is also a defender of the a posteriori physicalist solution to the mind-body problem

Papineau was elected President of the British Society for the Philosophy of Science for 1993–5, of the Mind Association for 2009–10 and of the Aristotelian Society for 2013-4

His latest book Knowing the Score (2017) is written for a general readership, and looks at a number of ways in which sporting issues cast light on long-standing philosophical problems.

Papineau lives in London with his wife, Rose Wild