It is ironical that, beginning with John Locke (1632–1704), the empiricist attempt to make philosophy more “scientific” should have produced the exact opposite effect. Today, modern philosophy appears to be wandering around in the foetid swamps of subjectivity, while science marches on with its confident claims to objectivity, seemingly oblivious to all epistemological problems. Thus, for instance, Anthony Kenny points out (in The Oxford History of Western Philosophy) that, following Wittgenstein, it was accepted by all that the way to understand thought was to reflect on language (that is, thoughts can only be identified and individuated through their expression in…