".this is an extremely ambitious book. The list of topics it addresses is a selection of major philosophical controversies of the twentieth century: the nature of realism, skepticism, the relations between knowledge, truth and understanding, the status of classical logic, the analytic/synthetic distinction, and the empiricist criterion of cognitive significance. on each of these topics, Tennant offers a number of valuable insights, and the book as a whole is a fine example of clarity and rigor in philosophy.this is a rich book."--he Philosophical Review "[Tennant's} book addresses a number of important issues in contemporary philosophy, and the reader has much to gain from a careful study of the development. Few stones are left unturned.this rich study.

presents a delightful and compelling holistic argument against 'Kripke's meanining-sceptic', .'a new, improved version' of the manifestation argument, and 'provides a revival of the positivist notion of "cognitive significance"'. The author provides a rigorous criterion aimed at demarcating 'the empirically meaningful from the metaphysically meaningless'. He shows that his distinction avoids the now-standard refutations of the notion of cognitive significance."-- Mathematical Reviews "This is a new major and systematic monograph on the realism debate, written by a very skilful and sophisticated defender of anti-realism.Tennant attempts to show that [intuitionistic relevant] logic has much wider application than one might suppose. It suffices not only for mathematics but also adequately captures the basic inferential practices of empirical sciences. It would be hard to overestimate the significance of that attempt.

Tennant's views.put the whole [anti-realist] research programme in a quite different metaphilosophical setting, more congenial to the idea of naturalized philosophy.The book is very lucidly written, and the main arguments are well signposted, presented and summarized.it is a very advanced work."--he Review of Metaphysics "This is a bold book, perhaps even a brave book.Anyone interested in the realist/anti-realist controversy, whichever side she takes, should read it, for it presents the most sophisticated defense of moderate anti-realism to date."-- Mind "Neil Tennant 'tames the True' by showing that nothing worth wanting as true in mathematics or natural science ranges beyond the limits of human knowledge. Anything worthy of the name true in mathematics or natural science is in principle knowable.

Chapters 2 and 3 of Tennant's book make a significant contribution with their careful analyses of philosophical terms such as 'realism', 'anti-realism', and 'irrealism'.Those who work in these areas need to study all of Tennant's book for it moves the arguments and issues significantly forward. The book offers a comprehensive philosophy of mathematics and natural science."-- Zentralblatt fur Mathematik.