Abstract

Putnam argues rightly that, if scientism were true, values and intentionality would be eliminable from a description of the world as it really is. But these are not eliminable, since science itself depends on them. But he wrongly believes that, if there were any viable form of metaphysics, it would have to be scientism. This article argues that, if one applies Putnam's insights and corrects his oversights, a metaphysics is possible, which, while it is based on the methods of science, is not scientism, and can accommodate intentionality and value