Putnam offers a sweeping account of the sources of several central problems of philosophy. A unifying theme of the volume is that reductionism, scientism, and old-style disenchanted naturalism tend to be obstacles to philosophical progress.

"Words and Life" offers a sweeping account of the sources of several of the central problems of philosophy, past and present. A unifying theme of the volume is that reductionism, scientism, and old-style disenchanted naturalism tend to be obstacles to philosophical progress. The sweep of the problems considered here comprehends all the fundamental areas of contemporary analytic philosophy.