The Blackwell Guide to Philosophy of Language is a collection of twenty new essays in a cutting-edge and wide-ranging field. Surveys central issues in contemporary philosophy of language while examining foundational topics Provides pedagogical tools such as abstracts and suggestions for further readings Topics addressed include the nature of meaning, speech acts and pragmatics, figurative language, and naturalistic theories of reference

Michael Devitt is a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He is the author of Designation (1981), Coming to Our Senses: A Naturalistic Program for Semantic Localism (1995), Realism and Truth (1997), and Language and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Language (with Kim Sterelny, 1999).

Richard Hanley is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Delaware. He is the author of The Metaphysics of Star Trek (1997, reprinted in paperback as Is Data Human?), as well as articles in metaphysics and philosophy of language.