John Searle

From his groundbreaking book Speech Acts to his most recent studies of consciousness, freedom and rationality John Searle has been a dominant and highly influential figure amongst contemporary philosophers. This systematic introduction to the full range of Searle´s work begins with the theory of speech acts and proceeds with expositions of Searle´s writings on intentionality, consciousness and perception, as well as a careful presentation of the so-called Chinese Room argument. The volume considers Searle´s recent work on social ontology and his views on the nature of law and obligation. It concludes with an appraisal of Searle´s spirited defense of truth and scientific method in the face of the criticisms of Derrida and other postmodernists. This is the only comprehensive introduction to Searle´s work, and as such it will be of particular value to advanced undergraduates, graduates and professionals in philosophy, psychology, linguistics, cognitive and computer science and literary theory.
Contents: 1. John Searle: from speech acts to social reality Barry Smith; 2. From speech acts to speech activity Nick Fotion; 3. Intentions, obligations and promises Leonardo Zaibert; 4. Law George P. Fletcher; 5. Action Joelle Proust; 6. Consciousness Neil Manson; 7. The intentionality of perception Fred Dretske; 8. Sense data Brian O´Shaughnessy; 9. The limits of expressibility Francois Recanati; 10. The Chinese Room Josef Moural; 11. Searle, Derrida and the ends of phenomenology Kevin Mulligan.