Meaning, Understanding, and Practice

Meaning, Understanding, and Practice is a selection of the most notable essays of a leading contemporary philosopher on a set of central topics in the subject. Barry Stroud offers penetrating studies of meaning, understanding, necessity, and the intentionality of thought. One question running through many of the essays is how much can be expected from a philosophical account of a person's understanding the meaning of something, and whether it can succeed without implying that the person understands many other things as well. Five of the essays focus on the philosophy of Wittgenstein, and at least that many others work with ideas derived from Wittgenstein. In a helpful introduction Stroud explains how the essays are related to one another and how some of his ideas about these questions developed over the years.