John Searle was raised in the tradition of analytic philosophy, but he transcends that tradition. One reason is that he writes on a variety of topics even though his tradition encourages its supporters to focus narrowly on certain aspects of one or two topics. In his long career, Searle has written extensively on such subjects as philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, the nature and structure of social institutions, context (what he calls Network and Background), ontology, science and causality.

But beyond that, he has brought all these topics together – he has synthesized them so as to form a single “big picture” philosophic stance. As will become evident later in this work, his stance is in large part reactive. It reacts against the strong and broad based contemporary tradition of postmodernism that is intent on, indeed seems to delight in, deconstructing just about everything in view – especially our sense of what is real. Searle's stance reacts also against the dominant view in psychology and philosophy of mind that severely deflates consciousness to the point of ignoring it completely or not taking it seriously when explaining mental phenomena. Interestingly, in his defence of reality, consciousness, and his sense that a big picture philosophic stance makes sense, Searle incorporates many of the views that he reacts against. He mixes his views with those of those with whom he disagrees. Yes, he says, we know things only from a certain point of view (aspectually), and yet we still can meaningfully think of ourselves as being in contact with the real world.