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The Novelty of New RealismIn the Italian public cultural discussion it has often been argued that philosophical realism is an obsolete and irrelevant conception and that no attention should be given to its new versions. In this article, it is argued that this thesis is flawed because the issue of realism is philosophically inescapable. This will be argued by discussing two examples that come from science. The first example concerns the concept of species, which is hotly debated today both in biology and in the philosophy of biology. What is relevant here is that none of the available definitions of species cover all the cases biologists would like to cover – so that several scholars have taken the antirealist attitude by denying the objective reality of species. The other example concerns the birth of modern science, which (against some contemporary interpretations) cannot be understood without appreciating its deep commitments toward a realistic interpretation of scientific theories. Some objections will also be dealt with that have been raised by the antirealists, such as the one centered on the alleged connection of new realism with political realism and another that concerns the status of conventions in our practices.

"The question of naturalism - the relation of philosophy to science - was one of the defining strands of twentieth-century thought and remains a major source of debate and controversy today. Its proponents argue that philosophy should ally itself with the sciences, especially physics, and that science should be applied to all areas of reality. Its opponents argue that that such naturalism severely reduces the nature and scope of philosophical enquiry and, moreover, that many philosophical problems are not reducible to science, such as consciousness, the role of intuitions, the nature of concepts and ethics. The Routledge Handbook of Liberal Naturalism is the first collection to present a comprehensive overview of liberal naturalism, a philosophical outlook that lies between hard naturalism and supernaturalism. Comprising 37 chapters by an international team of contributors, it examines all the important topics including: what is liberal naturalism? metaphysics naturalism and the history of philosophy, including the scientific revolution, Hume, William James and Quine contemporary proponents of liberal naturalism in figures such as P.F. Strawson, John McDowell, Richard Rorty and Robert Brandom related theories of naturalism, including subject, common-sense, and biological naturalism liberal naturalism and contemporary debates in epistemology, ethics, philosophy of mind and aesthetics. Essential reading for students and researchers in all areas of philosophy, it will be of particular interest for those studying philosophical naturalism, philosophy of science, metaphysics, philosophy of mind and ethics"--

During his long career, Hilary Putnam repeatedly revised his philosophical positions. This unique volume is a window into his intellectual humility and breadth of interests, as his own thinking evolved in dialogue with contemporaries such as Sellars, Habermas, Rorty, Chomsky, McDowell, Nussbaum, W. V. Quine, Cora Diamond, and Cornel West.

Frontmatter -- Acknowledgments -- Contents -- Introduction: The Nature of Naturalism -- 1 The Charm of Naturalism -- 2 The Miracle of Monism -- 3 The Content and Appeal of "Naturalism" -- 4 Naturalism Without Representationalism -- II MIND -- 5 Naturalism in the Philosophy of Mind -- 6 Naturalism and Skepticism -- 7 Intentionality and Norms -- 8 Could There Be a Science of Rationality? -- III AGENCY -- 9 Agency and Alienation -- 10 Is Freedom Really a Mystery? -- 11 Subjectivity and the Agential Perspective -- IV ETHICAL AND AESTHETIC NORMATIVITY -- 12 A Nonnaturalist Account of Personal Identity -- 13 Against Naturalism in Ethics -- 14 Postscript (2002) to "The Investigations' Everyday Aesthetics of Itself" -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Contributors -- Index