Peter Unger - Empty Ideas: A Critique of Analytic Philosophy

Peter Unger

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Peter Unger 2014

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Unger, Peter K.
Empty ideas : a critique of analytic philosophy / Peter Unger.
pages cm
ISBN 978-0-19-933081-2 (hardback : alk. paper)
ebook ISBN 978-0-19-933083-6
1. Reality. 2. Substance (Philosophy) 3. MatterPhilosophy.
4. Analysis (Philosophy) I. Title.
BD331.U49 2014
110 dc23 2013042262

1 3 5 7 8 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper

Eight years in the writing, various earlier versions of the present work each had a different number of chapters, as well as differing in other ways. This makes it impossible to thank people in a perfectly accurately way, and hard to do so in even a pretty accurate way. But, I shall try to do the latter, lesser thing, even if I misrepresent, to some degree, the help others have given me.

Years ago, several people commented most helpfully on much of what has become of this book, saliently including John Carroll, Don Garrett, Alan Sidelle, and David Chalmers. I now gratefully thank them.

During the summer of 2012, three young philosophers read through of the book, providing me with much helpful input. For that, I am happy to thank Katie Elliot, Dan Greco, and Yu Guo.

Kit Fine read through a nearly complete version of , wherein I discuss his work, and gave me his thoughts on that chapters main matters. My thanks go to Kit.

The last chapter was added during the first half of 2013 and has been read by only two people, other than me, of course: An expert on philosophy of science generally, and philosophy of physics, in particular, one was my colleague Tim Maudlin. An expert in neither field, and more like most readers, the other was our student Yu Guo. For his expert advice and sound judgment, I thank Tim. For his care with details and his sound judgment, I thank Yu.

Giovanni Merlo read , guiding my polishing of that introductory chapter. I happily thank both of them.

The three people to whom I am most greatly indebted for their wise help on this project are these three: David Chalmers, who commented trenchantly on more than half the material now in chapters1 through 8, getting me to make key changes in important places; Yu Guo, who read both all of the penultimate 8-chapter version of the book in 2012 and, in 2013, all of the present and final 9-chapter version; and an anonymous reader for the Oxford University Press, who seems to agree with virtually all of the books many negative claims and, quite wisely, had me delete from this work almost all of the positive suggestions made in the penultimate version, leaving hardly anything positive in this published version of Empty Ideas. I am especially grateful to these three people.

P.K.U.

New York

October 2013