Truth and Progress

Introduction; Part I. Truth and Some Philosophers: 1. Is truth a goal of inquiry?: Donald Davidson vs. Crispin Wright; 2. Hilary Putnam and the relativist menace; 3. John Searle on realism and relativism; 4. Charles Taylor on truth; 5. Daniel Dennett on intrinsicality; 6. Robert Brandom on social practices and representations; 7. The very idea of human answerability to the world: John McDowell's Version of Empiricism; 8. Anti-sceptical weapons: Michael Williams vs. Donald Davidson; Part II. Moral Progress: Towards more Inclusive Communities: 9. Human rights, rationality, and sentimentality; 10. Rationality and cultural difference; 11. Feminism and pragmatism; 12. The end of Leninism, Havel and social hope; Part III. The Role of Philosophy in Human Progress: 13. The historiography of philosophy: four genres; 14. The contingency of philosophical problems: Michael Ayers on Locke; 15. Dewey between Hegel and Darwin; 16. Habermas, Derrida and the functions of philosophy; 17. Derrida and the philosophical tradition.