What do words have to do with the world? Do our concepts "make" the world the way it is for us? If concepts do "make" the world what it is for us, is this "making" complete, without residue of a natural world, and how does this "making" occur? Is there a real world to which word and concepts refer that anchors their meaning? What is the role of the imagination in making words have meaning? Is understanding embodied, conceptual, or both? "A Modest Realism" explores these questions through its examination of the foundations of articulatable experience. It joins language and experience in a non-essentialist realism, while avoiding the non sequiturs and practical impossibilities of most twentieth century postmodern philosophers.
