Books
Philosophy is Perfect: A Defence of Philosophy
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Philosophy is Perfect offers a bold defence of philosophy against its pessimistic and moderate critics. Where “flagellants” see futility and “hedgers” see only piecemeal progress, Herman Cappelen advances a model of Hyper-Optimism: the claim that philosophy has been massively successful, foundational to all inquiry, and flourishing precisely because of its characteristic disagreement.
The book unfolds in four parts. Part I argues that all disciplines ultimately “answer to philosophy” when their core concepts and methods are scrutinized, showing that pessimism about philosophy would undermine confidence in every branch of knowledge. Part II turns the standard critique on its head, arguing that persistent disagreement is not a defect but a structural virtue of philosophical inquiry: convergence would signal decay, not progress. Part III presents the positive thesis—that philosophy has already found the correct answers to the “Very Important Questions.” Drawing on the idea of a “nearly filled logical space,” Cappelen argues that after centuries of systematic exploration, the correct answers are already articulated and defended in the philosophical commons. Part IV addresses objections, distinguishing achievements from aims, resisting the retreat to mere “mapping,” and reframing methodological criticisms as philosophical contributions in their own right.
The result is a provocative re-evaluation of philosophy’s status. Rather than a discipline in crisis, Cappelen depicts philosophy as uniquely successful: it has discovered foundational truths, thrives on principled disagreement, and sets the terms for all other forms of inquiry. Philosophy is Perfect is both a challenge to entrenched pessimism and a constructive vision of philosophy’s achievements and future.
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Introduction
Part 1: Philosophy at the Foundation of Everything
Part 2: Disagreement is Good - Agreement is Bad
Part 3: The Case for Massive Success
Part 4: Objections, Replies, and Elaborations
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Under contract with Oxford University Press
Recognizing Artificial Minds: A Philosophical Defense of AI Cognition
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This work defends the 'Whole Hog Thesis': sophisticated Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT are full-blown linguistic and cognitive agents, possessing understanding, beliefs, desires, knowledge, and intentions. We argue against prevailing methodologies in AI philosophy, rejecting starting points based on low-level computational details ('Just an X' fallacy) or pre-existing theories of mind. Instead, we advocate starting with simple, high-level observations of LLM behavior (e.g., answering questions, making suggestions) -- defending this data against charges of metaphor, loose talk, or pretense. From these observations, we employ 'Holistic Network Assumptions' -- plausible connections between mental capacities (e.g., answering implies knowledge, knowledge implies belief, action implies intention) -- to argue for the full suite of cognitive states. We systematically rebut objections based on LLM failures (hallucinations, planning/reasoning errors), arguing these don't preclude agency, often mirroring human fallibility. We address numerous 'Games of Lacks', arguing that LLMs do not lack purported necessary conditions for cognition (e.g., semantic grounding, embodiment, justification, intrinsic intentionality) or that these conditions are not truly necessary, often relying on anti-discriminatory arguments comparing LLMs to diverse human capacities. Our approach is evidential, not functionalist, and deliberately excludes consciousness. We conclude by speculating on the possibility of LLMs possessing 'alien' contents beyond human conceptual schemes.
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Introduction
1: The Philosophy of AI: Methodological Foundations
2: The Hog Argument: ChatGPT is a Complete Cognitive Agent
3: In Defence of Starting with Simple Observations
4: “ChatGPT Understands Questions”: Against Metaphorical, Loose Talk, and Pretense Interpretations
5: How to Understand Hallucinations (and other irrational behavior by LLMs)
6: The Game of Lacks: An Introduction
7: Eight Games of Lack
8: Speculative Thoughts: Alien Content
Concluding Thoughts
Oxford University Press, 2026 (Earlier draft title: Going Whole Hog)
The Concept of Democracy:
An Essay on Conceptual Amelioration and Abandonment
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If we don't know what the words 'democracy' and 'democratic' mean, then we don't know what democracy is. This book defends a radical view: these words mean nothing and should be abandoned. The argument for Abolitionism is simple: those terms are defective and we can easily do better, so let's get rid of them. According to the abolitionist, the switch to alternative devices would be a significant communicative, cognitive, and political advance.
The first part of the book presents a general theory of abandonment: the conditions under which language should be abandoned. The rest of the book applies this general theory to the case of 'democracy' and 'democratic'. Cappelen shows that 'democracy' and 'democratic' are semantically, pragmatically, and communicatively defective.
Abolitionism is not all gloom and doom. It also contains a message of good cheer: we have easy access to conceptual devices that are more effective than 'democracy'. We can do better. These alternative linguistic devices will enable us to ask better questions, provide genuinely fruitful answers, and have more rational discussions. Moreover, those questions and answers better articulate the communicative and cognitive aims of those who use empty terms like 'democracy' and 'democratic'.
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Preface & Acknowledgements
Part I: A Theory of Abandonment
Introduction
Arguments for Abandonment
Abandonment compared to Elimination, Reduction, Replacement, and Amelioration
Abandonment and Communication
Part II: Some Data about 'Democracy'
The Ordinary Notion of 'Democracy': Methodological Preamble
OSome Data about 'Democracy' and 'Democratic'
Part III: Abandonment of 'Democracy'?
Problems with 'Democracy'
Better than 'Democracy': A Chapter of Good Cheers
Consequences of Abandoning 'Democracy'
Part IV: Democracy Ameliorated
Ameliorations of 'Democracy'
Verbal Disputes about 'Democracy's
Part V: Efforts to Defend Democracy
Objections and Replies
Bibliography
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‘When I first started tinkering in democratic theory, I read a book (I’ll decline to identify which) in which the author investigated what it takes to conduct a particular activity in a democratic manner. Unsurprisingly, the answer involved adopting the author’s own substantive and convoluted ideological commitments. Rather than arguing directly that these commitments were correct or good, the author tried to smuggle them into the concept of “democracy” itself, pushing the line that everyone who cares about democracy thereby implicitly shares the author’s controversial commitments. Of course, that’s false, but it relieved the author of having to produce a real argument. After reading that book, I developed a suspicion that the concept of “democracy” is often abused to bypass real debate.
Herman Cappelen’s densely argued but eminently readable and engaging The Concept of Democracy provides a systematic philosophical defense of this and related suspicions—indeed, he provides extensive evidence that things are far worse than this. He argues that the words “democracy” and “democratic” (what he calls the “D-words”) are so semantically, pragmatically, and communicatively defective that we should abandon them altogether. His book is not an argument against democracy but an argument against “democracy” (2). The Concept of Democracy is not a book of political philosophy but rather a work of philosophy of language applied to a political concept. Cappelen offers no arguments for or against free elections, representative government, or political equality. His quarrel is with a word that, among other failings, has become an empty vessel into which speakers pour whatever ideological content suits their purposes.’
— Jason Brennan in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
'In The Concept of Democracy, philosopher Herman Cappelen advances a bold, provocative thesis: the word "democracy", he argues, fails to pick out any determinate phenomenon, is highly vulnerable to rhetorical capture and abuse, and easily leads to purely verbal disputes. And, crucially, almost everything we discuss with that word can be discussed without using it'
'The Concept of Democracy is a thought-provoking, well-researched, engaging and extremely clear book that will be of interest to methodologically oriented political philosophers, democratization scholars and comparative political scientists, among others.'
'Cappelen usefully subjects to careful scrutiny – and, often, to fierce criticism – the "pre-theoretical philosophy of language" on which democracy scholars often rely, and even those who disagree with his arguments will find in the book a valuable survey of the main challenges an adequate definition of "democracy" must overcome.'
— Pablo Magaña in Political Studies Review
Oxford University Press, 2023
Further information is available from Oxford University Press.
Making AI Intelligible: Philosophical Foundations
Herman Cappelen and Josh Dever
Oxford University Press, 2021
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Can humans and artificial intelligences share concepts and communicate? Making AI Intelligible shows that philosophical work on the metaphysics of meaning can help answer these questions. Herman Cappelen and Josh Dever use the externalist tradition in philosophy to create models of how AIs and humans can understand each other. In doing so, they illustrate ways in which that philosophical tradition can be improved.
The questions addressed in the book are not only theoretically interesting, but the answers have pressing practical implications. Many important decisions about human life are now influenced by AI. In giving that power to AI, we presuppose that AIs can track features of the world that we care about (for example, creditworthiness, recidivism, cancer, and combatants). If AIs can share our concepts, that will go some way towards justifying this reliance on AI. This ground-breaking study offers insight into how to take some first steps towards achieving Interpretable AI.
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PART I: INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
Introduction
Alfred (The Dismissive Sceptic): Philosophers, Go Away!
PART II: A PROPOSAL FOR HOW TO ATTRIBUTE CONTENT TO AI
Terminology: Aboutness, Representation, and Metasemantics
Our Theory: De-Anthropocentrized Externalism
Application: The Predicate 'High Risk'
Application: Names and the Mental Files Framework
Application: Predication and Commitment
PART III
Four Concluding Thoughts
Bibliography
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'Making AI Intelligible is a thought-provoking overview of the resources available in the contemporary philosophy of language, and their potential application to the interpretation of AI systems. ... One intriguing conclusion drawn by the authors is not then that modern philosophy of language is ill-suited for AI systems, but that it must overcome its admittedly anthropocentric bias in order to better grasp the nature of content.'
— Paul Dicken in Los Angeles Review of Books'Making AI Intelligible begins an original, creative, and ambitious project, which contributes both to the scientist's search for alternative methods to make sense of a phenomenon, as well as the philosopher's search for her own blind spots.'
— Nikhil Mahant in The Philosophical Quarterly
Further information is available from Oxford University Press.
Making AI Intelligible is available as Open Access from OUP here.
Listen to New Books Network Podcast on Making AI Intelligible.
Making AI Intelligible can be ordered at Amazon.co.uk.
Conceptual Engineering and Conceptual Ethics
Edited by Alexis Burgess, Herman Cappelen and David Plunkett
Oxford University Press, 2019
Further information is available from Oxford University Press.
Conceptual Engineering and Conceptual Ethics is available as Open Access from OUP here.
Fixing Language: An Essay on Conceptual Engineering
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'Herman Cappelen’s Fixing Language is a fascinating book, chock-full of provocative arguments, on what is fast becoming a (the?) central topic in metaphilosophy: conceptual engineering. It is an important book – one I very highly recommend.
It sets the stage for what will be an exciting metaphilosophical debate over the prospects for conceptual engineering in the years to come. ... the book is remarkable for its extensive critical engagement with the work of others, and for its coverage of a dizzying array of issues related to its main theme. As advertised, it's a book about conceptual engineering, but also, and in some cases, equally, it’s a book about metasemantics, verbal disputes, the history of analytic philosophy, meaning change, externalism, inconsistent concepts, generic language, metaphor, slurs, feminist philosophy and contextualism. And that's a partial list.'
— Max Deutsch in Analysis'... the past few years have seen an explosion of work that is described by its authors as "conceptual engineering"; and Cappelen bears no small share of the responsibility for this. ... I would recommend Fixing Language to anyone interested in meaning and philosophical methodology. This is not only because of the interest of the various ideas Cappelen discusses under the umbrella of the Austerity Framework, but also because of the many acute criticisms of alternative views.'
— Derek Ball in Mind'In this lovely and important book, Herman Cappelen organizes and contributes to a rapidly growing literature involving the idea that a, or perhaps the, central role of philosophy is the improvement of concepts. The paramount virtue of his own "austerity" account is that it neither makes improving human beings seem unrealistically easy, nor misconstrues arguments about the world's facts (including the facts about what ought to be the case) as a pointless contest of what middle-era Richard Rorty used to call "vocabularies."
... we should never forget Russell's moving conclusion to The Problems of Philosophy, where he argues that humility is one of the two (along with a heightened sense of the possible) epistemic/moral goods produced by proper reflection on Western philosophy's successes and failures. Anyone sensitive to Russell's wisdom will at least be open to finding Cappelen's intervention in these debates dispositive.'
— Jon Cogburn in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews'...clear and rigorous ... engaging and thought-provoking ... it identifies some of the key issues that any future theory of conceptual engineering will have to address, and offers thought-provoking answers to all of them. Grappling with Cappelen's answers will surely help to bring the meta-philosophical debate about conceptual engineering to a new level.'
— Steffen Koch in Logical Analysis and History of Philosophy
Oxford University Press, 2018
Further information is available from Oxford University Press.
Fixing Language can be ordered at Amazon.co.uk.
Contemporary Introductions to Philosophy of Language
Herman Cappelen and Josh Dever
Oxford University Press, 2016-2019
Context and Communication (2017)
Puzzles of Reference (2018)
Bad Language (2019)
More information may be found here: Contemporary Introductions to Philosophy of Language.
Japanese translation of Bad Language is available at Keiso Shobo.
The Oxford Handbook of Philosophical Methodology
Edited by Herman Cappelen, Tamar Gendler and John Hawthorne
Oxford University Press, 2016
Further information is available from Oxford University Press.
The Oxford Handbook of Philosophical Methodology is available at Amazon.com.
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'All of the contributions contain interesting and thought-provoking material. There is no better place than this volume for graduate students and professional philosophers to get a sophisticated introduction to recent debates about philosophical methods.'
— Matthew C. Haug in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
Liberating Content
Herman Cappelen and Ernest Lepore
Oxford University Press, 2015
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'These papers are lively and provocative, dense with arguments that readers will want to assess and respond to.' and '... reading through these papers together is a stimulating and rewarding exercise.'
— Curtis Brown in Analysis
Further information is available from Oxford University Press.
Liberating Content is available at Amazon.com.
The Inessential Indexical:
On the Philosophical Insignificance of Perspective and the First Person
Herman Cappelen and Josh Dever
Oxford University Press, 2013
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'This is a brave and fascinating book in terms of how it takes on a long-standing and largely unchallenged tradition. The book succeeds in its stated aim to show that arguments put forward in favour of essential indexicality are often shallow, border on the rhetorical, and that the notion of "perspective" probably has little philosophical mileage ... a positive synthetic vision [is] beautifully articulated in the final chapter ... according to which "all information is objective information and is used indifferently as such": our "view of the world is not primarily a view from a perspective"; "our beliefs and desires are 'organized around the world' rather than 'around us' ... ".'
— W. Hinzen in Mind'This crisp, lean, and tightly argued study deserves the attention of anyone interested in the topics of indexicality, perspective, and the first person ... My prediction is that this fine book will significantly advance the debate about the place of perspective and indexicality in human thought and action.'
— Tomis Kapitan in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews'In addition to being clear and careful, it presents a fresh perspective on an important topic in philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, and action theory. ... Defenders of essential indexicality should welcome this book as an opportunity to sharpen their arguments and clarify their views.'
— P. Atkins in Analysis
Google Preview is available here.
The Inessential Indexical is available at Amazon.com.
Philosophy without Intuitions
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'This is an engaging and exciting book ... Whether one is convinced by its conclusion or not, Philosophy Without Intutions represents a clear jolt to contemporary metaphilosophical orthodoxy. It is a vivid and powerful call for philosophers to examine their assumptions about philosophy. Anyone interested in the role of intuitions in philosophy or the proper description of contemporary philosophical practice will benefit from studying it.'
— Jonathan Ichikawa in International Journal for Philosophical Studies'If you're interested in the role of intuitions in philosophy, you need to read this book. Even if you're not particularly concerned by this metaphilosophical issue you would probably still benefit from reading this book, for it may well convince you to change the way in which you articulate your arguments and interpret other authors. Cappelen has made an excellent contribution to the ongoing debate over the importance of intuitions in philosophy.'
— Stephen Ingram in Metaphilosophy'Experimental results on the variability and intra-personal instability of philosophical intuitions have recently sparked a lively methodological debate about the reliability of the philosophical method. In his new book, Herman Cappelen argues that this entire debate is misguided. The reason is simple: philosophers don’t rely on intuitions, so there is no reason for philosophers to worry about their reliability. Cappelen’s case for this claim amounts to one of the most original and well-argued contributions to recent discussions about philosophical methodology. His book should be essential reading for anyone interested in the debate.'
— Kristoffer Ahlstorm-Vij in Philosophical Quarterly'wonderfully clear ... this is a well-argued, interesting book, challenging contemporary metaphilosophy fundamentally; I highly recommend it.'
— Daniel Cohnitz in Disputatio'In this imaginative book, Herman Cappelen challenges two key orthodoxies: that philosophers, as a matter of fact, rely upon intuitions in their everyday practice; and that it is legitimate for them to do so. What he wants is a philosophy purged of intuition-talk, since he believes such talk is idle when we consider how contemporary philosophers actually proceed in dealing with philosophical problems....this is a thought-provoking book that explores important questions about how philosophical research proceeds and, indeed, what philosophical progress might look like. Any future methodological work in philosophy that makes substantive use of the idea of intuitions needs to respond to Cappelen's challenges.'
— Adrian Walsh in Australasian Journal of Philosophy (92(1), p.183)
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Forthcoming Philosophical Studies Symposium:
John Bengson ('How Philosophers use Intuition and 'Intuition'')
David Chalmers ('Intuitions in Philosophy: A Minimal Defense')
Jonathan Weinberg ('Cappelen between a Rock and a Hard Place')
Brian Weatherson ('Centrality and Marginalisation')
Forthcoming Analytic Philosophy Symposium:
Paul Boghossian ('Cappelen on Intuitions')
Brit Brogaard ('Intuitions and Intellectual Seemings')
Mark Richard ('Analysis and Intuitions')
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X-Phi Without Intuitions?, forthcoming in Anthony Booth and Darrell Rowbottom, eds., Intuition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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Interview from New Books in Philosophy.
Boghossian and Cappelen on Philosophy without Intuitions, at UCD on YouTube.
Oxford University Press, 2012
The first chapter is available here.
Philosophy without Intuitions is available at Amazon.com.
Assertion: New Philosophical Essays
Edited by Jessica Brown and Herman Cappelen
Oxford University Press, 2010
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'... this book is really a terrific contribution to the field and both authors and editors are to be commended for breaking new ground on this very important speech act. The collection is full of fresh, interesting insights and clear arguments that will provide many a philosopher with a deeply explored dialectic to work within. If I were to teach a (graduate) class on assertion, many if not all of these essays would be required reading.'
— Adam Sennet in Analysis Reviews (2013, 73.1, 177-180)
Assertion is available at Amazon.com.
Relativism and Monadic Truth
Herman Cappelen and John Hawthorne
Oxford University Press, 2009
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'Relativism and Monadic Truth is a work full of philosophical insights, combined with theoretical ingenuity and dexterity in application ... Their book will drive forward research in the field for some time to come, and is therefore essential lreading for those working in the philosophy of language.'
— Brian Ball in Logical Analysis and the History of Philosophy (13, 148-155)'Relativism and Monadic Truth is an eminently readable book. The pace is fast, the style is witty, a wealth of interesting issues are raised in only 148 pages. Some of these issues are cursorily treated, but this is intentional. The idea is to create the impression that there are overwhelmingly many pieces of evidence, some strong, others more speculative, but all pointing in the same direction: Truth is monadic, propositions are true or false simpliciter ... both specialists and a philosophically interested general audience may be inspired by it, or provoked by it, to undertake a deeper scrutiny of the charms of simplicity.'
— Alexander Almer and Dag Westerstahl in Linguistics and Philosophy (2010, 33, 37–50)
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Philosophical Studies Symposium (Peter Lasersohn, John MacFarlane ( "Simplicity Made Difficult"), Mark Richard).
Analysis Symposium (Michael Glanzberg, Scott Soames ("True At"), Brian Weatherson ("No Royal Road to Relativism")).
Author-Meets-Critic Session, 2010 APA Central Division meeting. Critics: Andy Egan, Ernest Lepore, Scott Soames, Adam Sennet.
Relativism and Monadic Truth is available at Amazon.com.
Language Turned on Itself:
The Semantics and Pragmatics of Metalinguistic Discourse
Herman Cappelen and Ernest Lepore
Oxford University Press, 2007
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'It is particularly gratifying to have this lively compact monograph by Herman Cappelen and Ernie Lepore ... With their usual flair C&L explain why we should study quotation; they lay out the leading issues in the literature; they criticize prior theories, including the demonstrative theory they are so well known for; they introduce a new version of the identity-function theory; and they offer a valuable essay on an unduly neglected topic in philosophy of language, that of the metaphysics of signs.'
— Paul Sakain in Protosociology
Further information is available from Oxford University Press.
Language Turned on Itself is available at Amazon.com.
Insensitive Semantics:
A Defense of Semantic Minimalism and Speech Act Pluralism
Herman Cappelen and Ernest Lepore
Blackwell Publishers, 2004
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'Overall, this is an excellent book. It sets a standard for clarity and explicitness of argumentation that few philosophical works equal. Cappelen and Lepore’s insights into debates concerning context sensitivity are many and profound. The challenges they set before contextualists of all kinds should set the terms of debate for some time to come.'
— Daniel Bonevac in Philosophical Books (2008, 157-161)'This is a book of considerable importance, which deals with a topic currently at the center of research in the philosophy of language. As a result, Insensitive Semantics has been and will continue to be widely discussed This book pushes the discussion of context–sensitivity forward in new and useful directions. Read it and learn from it.'
— Rob Stainton in Journal of Linguistics
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Mind & Language Symposium. Replies by Ann Bezuidenhout, Steven Gross, Francois Recanati, Zoltan Szabo and Charles Travis.
Philosophy and Phenomenological Research Symposium. Replies by Kent Bach, John Hawthorne, Kepa Korta & John Perry, and Rob Stainton.
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Insensitive Semantics is available at Amazon.com.
Chinese Translation of Insensitive Semantics is available at Yilin.com and Amazon.cn.