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Thomas Hofweber, Idealism and the Harmony of Thought and Reality, Oxford University Press, 2023, 254pp., $105.00 (hbk) ISBN 9780198823636.
Reviewed by Matti Eklund, Uppsala University
Thomas Hofweber’s Idealism and the Harmony of Thought and Reality is an impressive work. Hofweber addresses the traditional question of realism versus idealism and defends a version of idealism, primarily on the basis of a linguistic argument. Much of the book is devoted to a metadiscussion, defending the legitimacy of the overall strategy. The discussion is original, interesting, and exciting. While there are connections to discussions elsewhere in the literature, Hofweber blazes his own trail. He does it to such an extent that much of my summary of what he does will involve introducing his framework for discussing these issues.
The background of Hofweber’s discussion is this. Idealism is the view that minds, or specifically human minds, are central to reality. Hofweber further distinguishes between ontological…
