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WETTSTEIN, H., The Magic Prism. An Essay in the Philosophy of Language. Oxford University Press, 2004. 256p. Hardback. Wettstein proposes to dissolve these puzzles by showing that our capacity to talk about things is ultimately mundane and bereft of mystery. His book is thus a unique attempt to combine a sophisticated historical and substantive discussion of reference with a loosely speaking Wittgensteinian perspective on language and Wittgensteinians have much to learn from the result. Wettstein is also one of those increasingly rare mainstream analytic philosophers to speak with a voice which is distinctive without being obtrusive, and to display how even highly recherche debates can profit from the occaisonal input of common sense and wisdom. Wettstein has provided a highly illuminating and thought-provoking anthropology of our practice of using words to refer to things. It provides the perfect antidote to the widespread tendency of distorting this practice because of theoretical fancies and l'art pour l'art technicalitites. Notre Dame Philosophical Review (Publisher's information). € 101.91 (New) (Printed on Demand) (approx. delivery time: 4 weeks) ISBN: 9780195160529