Books by Herman (Professor of Philosophy Cappelen

Bad Language is the first textbook on an emerging area in the study of language: non-idealized language use, the linguistic behaviour of people who exploit language for malign purposes. This lively, accessible introduction offers theoretical frameworks for thinking about such topics as lies and bullshit, slurs and insults, coercion and silencing.

Reference is a central topic in the philosophy of language, linguistic semantics, and related areas of philosophy and linguistics. This textbook offers an up-to-date introduction to key debates about reference. While comprehensive in approach, it is written for students and does not assume any prior training in philosophy of language.

Herman Cappelen investigates how language and other representational devices can go wrong, and how to fix them. We use language to understand and talk about the world, but what if our language has deficiencies that prevent it from playing that role? How can we revise our concepts, and what are the limits on revision?