Abstract/Summary

John McDowell has set the philosophical world alight with a revolutionary approach to the subject, illuminating old problems with dazzling particularity. In this welcome introduction to his work, Maximilian de Gaynesford puts within comfortable reach of non-specialists McDowell’s demanding writing. The guiding argument of the book is that the apparent variety of McDowell’s interests disguises a core concern with a single basic goal: ‘giving philosophy peace’. Since the dawn of the subject, philosophy has struggled with the question: can our experience of the world give rational support to what we think and say; and if so, how? De Gaynesford analyses McDowell’s densely argued answer to this question in a lucid, balanced and engaging way