Product Description

Product Description
This book guides the reader through perhaps the single most important philosophical work of the twentieth century: Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations. Wilson presents this work in a radically new light, using short sections to clarify the main arguments, including the famous Private Language Argument. Wilson's clear and accessible writing writing brings a new clarity to a reputedly difficult work and demonstrates the continuing importance of Wittgenstein's ideas to contemporary debates in cognitive linguistics and psychology. ... Read more

Product Description
Wittgenstein's philosophical achievement lies in the development of a new philosophical method rather than in the elaboration of a particular system. His method involves an approach to the examination of philosophical problems, a method which Paul Johnston applies in this book to the central problems of moral philosophy - questions such as whether there can be truth in ethics, or what objectivity might mean in this context. The text also attempts to shed new light both on Wittgenstein's philosophy of morals and on his entire oeuvre. Johnston argues for a reassessment of contemporary moral philosophy, showing that the conclusions generated by the application of Wittgenstein's method to moral philosophy differ radically from those that dominate modern discussions of ethics. ... Read more

Product Description
This volume provides a wide-ranging collection of newly-commissioned essays on Wittgenstein by internationally established philosophers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Excellent review of our greatest psychologist
The aim of the 17 original papers here is to summarize and analyze Wittgenstein's thought.

At the time these were being written, the Oxford/Intelex CDROM ($2040 on Amazon but available thru interlibrary loan and steeply discounted on the net) with 20,000 some pages of W's nachlass was not yet available, and only those fluent in German and willing to find and slog thru the incomplete Cornell microfilm were able to examine it.To this day it much of it remains untranslated from the German typescripts and handwritten manuscripts.I note this at the outset as W's untranslated or unpublished writings often shed crucial light on his thought and few to this day (2008) have made substantial use of them.In addition there are huge problems with translation of his early 20th century Viennese German into modern English.One must be a master of English, German, and Wittgenstein in order to do this and very few are up to it. Several of the current authors note unfortunate translation errors in the only available English editions and I have seen similar comments countless times.

As is well known, W's thought changed dramatically between the publication of the Tractatus (TLP) in 1922 and the Philosophical Investigations(1953).The continuity or lack thereof between his early and late work is the subject of a vast literature and is taken up here by several authors.Ishiguro on the picture theory and Mounce on the logical system in TLP are good, but for me the endless discussions of exactly how he was mistaken in his early work is of as little interest as the mistakes in most previous philosophy.

Ammereller on Intentionality is a good, if prosaic, summary of (mostly) the early and middle W on belief and interpretation which, like virtually everyone, totally fails to give an adequate overview of W's pioneering work.In giving the general outline of our innate evolutionary psychology (ie, roughly our personality) and showing how this describes behavior, W represents a major milestone in human thought.There are unmistakeable indications of this even in his early writings (eg, see p 40, 49-58 here) and it has been documented by Hacker (eg, see his paper in The New Wittgenstein) and others but without any comprehensive account to date.

Rundle's contribution on meaning and understanding, which W classed as dispositions or inclinations and are now commonly called propositional attitudes, is mostly pedestrian and completely misses W's major point that, like most of our psychology, these are public phenomena and not private mental states.Of course he can be forgiven since hardly anyone interested in behavior (which can be taken to include everyone) has realized this, nor noted that W was the first to discuss it some 75 years ago.

Arrington gives an adequate, if standard, account ofW on rule following and Hanfling an exceptional summary of W on thinking.He makes it very clear that W showed dispositions are activities (or potential activities in some uses of the words) which are necessarily public, shared acts--a crucial basic fact rarely understood even by the brightest and the best (see eg, Chomsky's insistence--- in his more recent writings-- on the internal nature of language).Candlish follows with the best concise account I have seen of W's thoughts on willing.

Schroeder provides a good article on another of W's major advances in understanding how the mind works--the impossibility of private language and private experience--ie, just what Chomsky and millions of others have missed.However, he falters in midarticle by failing to get the difference between dispositions (thoughts, beliefs, meanings etc) which cannot be true or false and carry no information, and judgements of empirical facts which do, and thus fails to fully grasp the private language argument.There is no test for beliefs, thoughts, desires, intentions etc, even for oneself, until they are acted out in the public arena.Anything which is truly private is of no consequence in our social life or our language(thought).

Ter Hark, who has written a book on W's philosophy of psychology (though all of philosophy is psychology) contributes an adequate survey on "The Inner and The Outer" but is not really clear about how our psychology rests on innate, unquestionable axioms and how this is related to the axioms of mathematics.

Bakhurst's review of W on personal identity is barely adequate and shows little grasp of W's overall contributions to psychology.Likewise with Mulhall's "Seeing Aspects."

Frascolla, who has written a rather good book on W's Philosophy of Mathematics provides a good but hurried article that will be of little use to those not versed in this topic already.

I found Schwyzer's article on Autonomy to be entirely useless--an amazing but common achievement when writing about the greatest contributor to our most fascinating subject--how the mind works.

Grayling does a careful dissection of W's last great work On Certainty but misses the fact (as W noted many, many times) that all the skeptical views of knowing and certainty are incoherent, depending, as they must, on our innate axiomatic psychology to even state them.

The world's leading W scholar, PMS Hacker gives a good summary of W's views on the nature of philosophy, but even he seems to have no clear grasp of the fact that W's "grammar" refers to our inherited intentional psychology.

The late DZ Phillips contributes one his many articles on faith and ethics in W and I found this one as dull as the rest.Like most who write on W, he passes up a gold mine by failing to consider the relevance of W's many penetrating comments on machines, animals and alien tribes.

Overall an exceptional book for introducing W to a general philosophical audience. Those wishing further comments on W please consult my other reviews, including that of "I am a Strange Loop".

A Lukewarm Collection
This text is a companion volume to the Wittgenstein Reader anthology (Blackwell).It is a lukewarm, hit and miss collection of articles that topically corresponds to areas covered in the reader.I would recommend Crary's The New W. (Routledge) or David Pears or David Stern prior to this.The Cambridge Companion (Sluga/Stern) is also an excellent collection of articles.

The articles that stand out here are: Ishiguro, "The So-Called Picture Theory...," Rundle, "Meaning and Understanding," Arrington, "Following a Rule," Schroeder, "PL and Private Experience," Mulhall, "Seeing Aspects," Schwyzer, "Autonomy," Grayling, "W. on Skepticism and Certainty," and Hacker, "Philosophy."

On rule-following I would recommend McDowell's articles (in Mind Value...Harvard UP) Gibbs, Rule-Following; and on math necessity I would recommend the articles by Dummett (Truth...Harvard UP), Stroud (Mind Meaning.../Oxford UP), and Putnam. ... Read more

Product Description
Does Wittgenstein's philosophy lead to atheism Is it clearly religious Perplexingly, both of these questions have been answered in the affirmative. Despite the increasing awareness and use of Wittgenstein's philosophy within theological circles the puzzle persists: "Does his philosophy really fit with theology? It is helpful to show that Wittgenstein has no agenda towards atheism or religious belief in order to move ahead and properly discuss his philosophy as it stands. A study of Wittgenstein's key concepts of logic and language in his major works from the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus to the Philosophical Investigations and On Certainty reveals how he came to see in his later work that meaning is not simply intuitive or a consequence of solitary empirical investigation; rather, meaning is shown in how words are woven into the community of concrete life practices. A discussion of Christology and Luther's distinction between the theologian of glory and the theologian of the cross provide clear theological analogies for Wittgenstein's later philosophy. It also provides important footing to show-through examples of scripture, liturgy and practice-that Wittgenstein's philosophy is a useful tool that can fit with theology. ... Read more

Product Description
Malcolm Budd tackles a relatively little-explored area of Wittgenstein's thought, which played an important part in his later writings, from "Philosophical Investigations" onwards. He gives an account of Wittgenstein's conception of the philosophy of psychology, and explains the way in which Wittgenstein thought that excesses of dualism and behaviourism could be avoided without recourse to any currently fashionable form of materialism. He describes Wittgenstein's investigation of a number of central topics, such as the nature of rule-following, "private language" and the language of sensations, the exercise of the imagination in visualization and the nature of the emotions. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
Ludwig Wittgenstein's 'Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus' is one of the most important books of the twentieth century. It influenced philosophers and artists alike and continues to fascinate readers today. Alfred Nordmann's introduction considers both the philosophical and the literary aspects of the Tractatus and demonstrates how they are related. It also reveals how the work fits into Wittgenstein's philosophical development and the tradition of analytic philosophy, arguing strongly for the vigor and significance of that tradition. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
These essays, while written from diverse perspectives, share the common aim of building a constructive dialogue between two currents in philosophy: Wittgenstein and feminist theory. The volume contains an introductory essay by Scheman, and 20 chapters grouped into sections. ... Read more

Product Description
Published to widespread acclaim between 1980 and 1996, the monumental four- volume Analytical Commentary on the Philosophical Investigations has become the definitive reference work on Wittgenstein’s masterpiece. This revised edition of Volume I, Wittgenstein: Understanding and Meaning, which itself comprises two parts (‘Essays’ and ‘Exegesis §§1–184’), takes into account much material that was unavailable when the first edition was written. Following G.P. Baker’s death in 2002, P.M.S. Hacker has thoroughly revised both parts, rewriting many sections completely and often proposing fresh interpretations. Part I: Essays now includes two new essays: ‘Meaning and Use’ and ‘The Recantation of a Metaphysician’, while Part II: Exegesis §§1–184 has been exhaustively reworked in the light of the electronic publication of Wittgenstein’s Nachlass. These revisions will ensure that this remains the essential reference work on the Philosophical Investigations for the foreseeable future. ... Read more

Product Description
Taking readers through key themes in Wittgenstein's thought, this is an essential introduction to one of the most important thinkers in 20th Century Philosophy. Ludwig Wittgenstein was arguably the most important and influential philosopher of the twentieth century. Covering all the key concepts of his work, Starting with Wittgenstein provides an accessible introduction to the ideas of this hugely significant thinker. Thematically structured, the book leads the reader through a thorough overview of the development of Wittgenstein's thought, resulting in a more comprehensive understanding of the roots of his philosophical concerns. Offering coverage of the full range of Wittgenstein's earlier and later work, the book emphasizes the relationship between his treatment of language and his treatment of the other major questions in philosophy. Crucially the book introduces the major thinkers whose work proved influential in the development of Wittgenstein's thought, including Frege, Russell and Schopenhauer. This is the ideal introduction for anyone coming to the work of this challenging thinker for the first time. "Continuum's Starting with..." series offers clear, concise and accessible introductions to the key thinkers in philosophy.The books explore and illuminate the roots of each philosopher's work and ideas, leading readers to a thorough understanding of the key influences and philosophical foundations from which his or her thought developed. Ideal for first-year students starting out in philosophy, the series will serve as the ideal companion to study of this fascinating subject. ... Read more

Product Description
Wittgenstein's philosophical career began in 1911 when he went to Cambridge to work with Russell. He compiled the Notes on Logic two years later as a kind of summary of the work he had done so far. Russell thought that they were "as good as anything that has ever been done in logic," but he had Wittgenstein himself to explain them to him. Without the benefit of Wittgenstein's explanations, most later scholars have preferred to treat the Notes solely as an interpretative aid in understanding the Tractatus (which draws on them for material), rather than as a philosophical work in their own right.

Michael Potter unequivocally demonstrates the philosophical and historical importance of the Notes for the first time. By teasing out the meaning of key passages, he shows how many of the most important insights in the Tractatus they contain. He discusses in detail how Wittgenstein arrived at these insights by thinking through ideas he obtained from Russell and Frege. And he uses a challenging blend of biography and philosophy to illuminate the methods Wittgenstein used in his work.

The book features the complete text of the Notesi in a critical edition, with a detailed discussion of the circumstances in which they were compiled, leading to a new understanding of how they should be read. ... Read more