The Metaphysics of Experience

Name: The Metaphysics of Experience
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ISBN: 9781350606302

Truth, Enquiry and the Concept of Reality

Professor A. C. Grayling

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Forthcoming
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English

Miscellaneous
20 August 2026

Philosophy; Analytical philosophy & Logical Positivism; Philosophy: metaphysics & ontology

AC Grayling presents a work of analytic philosophy arguing that considerations of natural language ontology tell us much about how to understand truth, reference and concepts of reality.

In this detailed examination of how philosophers currently think about the 'ultimate reality', Grayling builds on three decades of thinking about metaphysical and semantic questions. Covering a wide range of central issues in metaphysics, Grayling presents stimulating insights on a range of topics including the difference between the concepts of ‘actual’ and ‘real’ and why ‘social reality’ is as ‘real’ as physical reality. He shows us the significance of epistemological scepticism and offers a revised and developed view of the consequences of it for understanding the nature and role of assertion.

Grayling’s semantic anti-realism does not entail a rejection of metaphysical realism. Here the question is reframed as one about the way discourses project ontologies. By reversing the idea that perceptual discourse is the base case and that mimicry by other discourses of its grammar is a source of philosophical problems, Grayling argues that a series of familiar philosophical problems are resolved. His case for a deferral approach to ultimate reality, a metaphysical one, is compelling.

Located as part of an historical development running though Parmenides, Plato, Spinoza, Berkeley, Hume, this is a work with broad implications in the metaphysics and philosophy of science. It is essential reading for any philosopher wanting to rethink the entanglement of ontology and epistemology in questions about reality.

By: Professor A. C. Grayling
Imprint: Miscellaneous
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 214mm, Width: 136mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 220g
ISBN: 9781350606302
ISBN 10: 1350606308
Pages: 208
Publication Date: 20 August 2026
Audience: College/higher education , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Preface 1 Introduction: The Argument 2 Natural Grammar and Ontology 3 Conceptual Schemes 4 Truth and Assertion 5 Metaphor 6 Reduction and Communicability 7 Enquiry and Modality 8 Reality and Deferral Acknowledgments References and Select Bibliography Index

A. C. Grayling is Principal of the New College of the Humanities at Northeastern University, London, and a Supernumerary Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford. He has written and edited over thirty books on philosophy, history, science and current affairs.