How To Read Wittgenstein

How To Read Wittgenstein PDF Author: Ray Monk
Publisher: Granta Books
ISBN: 1783785713
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 132

Book Description
Though Wittgenstein wrote on the same subjects that dominate the work of other analytic philosophers - the nature of logic, the limits of language, the analysis of meaning - he did so in a peculiarly poetic style that separates his work sharply from that of his peers and makes the question of how to read him particularly pertinent. At the root of Wittgenstein's thought, Ray Monk argues, is a determination to resist the scientism characteristic of our age, a determination to insist on the integrity and the autonomy of non-scientific forms of understanding. The kind of understanding we seek in philosophy, Wittgenstein tried to make clear, is similar to the kind we might seek of a person, a piece of music, or, indeed, a poem. Extracts are taken from Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and from a range of writings, including Philosophical Investigations, The Blue and Brown Books and Last Writings on the Philosophy of Psychology.

Wittgenstein: A Very Short Introduction

Wittgenstein: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: A. C. Grayling
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191540382
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 160

Book Description
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) was an extraordinarily original philospher, whose influence on twentieth-century thinking goes well beyond philosophy itself. In this book, which aims to make Wittgenstein's thought accessible to the general non-specialist reader, A. C. Grayling explains the nature and impact of Wittgenstein's views. He describes both his early and later philosophy, the differences and connections between them, and gives a fresh assessment of Wittgenstein's continuing influence on contemporary thought. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Wittgenstein's Place in Twentieth-Century Analytic Philosophy

Wittgenstein's Place in Twentieth-Century Analytic Philosophy PDF Author: P. M. S. Hacker
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
ISBN: 9780631200994
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 368

Book Description
This text provides a unique and compelling account of Wittgenstein's impact upon twentieth century analytic philosophy, from its inception to its subsequent decline.

Starting with Wittgenstein

Starting with Wittgenstein PDF Author: Chon Tejedor
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1441139141
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 194

Book Description
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.

Wittgenstein on Logic as the Method of Philosophy

Wittgenstein on Logic as the Method of Philosophy PDF Author: Oskari Kuusela
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192565311
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 312

Book Description
In Wittgenstein on Logic as the Method of Philosophy, Oskari Kuusela examines Wittgenstein's early and late philosophies of logic, situating their philosophical significance in early and middle analytic philosophy with particular reference to Frege, Russell, Carnap, and Strawson. He argues that not only the early but also the later Wittgenstein sought to further develop the logical-philosophical approaches of his contemporaries. Throughout his career Wittgenstein's aim was to resolve problems with and address the limitations of Frege's and Russell's accounts of logic and their logical methodologies so as to achieve the philosophical progress that originally motivated the logical-philosophical approach. By re-examining the roots and development of analytic philosophy, Kuusela seeks to open up covered up paths for the further development of analytic philosophy. Offering a novel interpretation of the philosopher, he explains how Wittgenstein extends logical methodology beyond calculus-based logical methods and how his novel account of the status of logic enables one to do justice to the complexity and richness of language use and thought while retaining rigour and ideals of logic such as simplicity and exactness. In addition, this volume outlines the new kind of non-empiricist naturalism developed in Wittgenstein's later work and explaining how his account of logic can be used to dissolve the long-standing methodological dispute between the ideal and ordinary language schools of analytic philosophy. It is of interest to scholars, researchers, and advance students of philosophy interested in engaging with a number of scholarly debates.

Starting with Wittgenstein

Starting with Wittgenstein PDF Author: Chon Tejedor
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1847061427
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 195

Book 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.

Wittgenstein Reading

Wittgenstein Reading PDF Author: Sascha Bru
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110294699
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 424

Book Description
Wittgenstein's thought is reflected in his reading and reception of other authors. Wittgenstein Reading approaches the moment of literature as a vehicle of self-reflection for Wittgenstein. What sounds, on the surface, like criticism (e.g. of Shakespeare) can equally be understood as a simple registration of Wittgenstein's own reaction, hence a piece of self-diagnosis or self-analysis. The book brings a representative sample of authors, from Shakespeare, Goethe, or Dostoyevsky to some that have received far less attention in Wittgenstein scholarship like Kleist, Lessing, or Wilhelm Busch and Johann Nepomuk Nestroy. Furthermore, the volume offers means for the cultural contextualization of Wittgenstein's thoughts. Unique to this book is its internal design. The editors' introduction sets the scene with regards to both biography and theory, while each of the subsequent chapters takes a quotation from Wittgenstein on a particular author as its point of departure for developing a more specific theme relating to the writer in question. This format serves to avoid the well-trodden paths of discussions on the relationship between philosophy and literature, allowing for unconventional observations to be made. Furthermore, the volume offers means for the cultural contextualization of Wittgenstein's thoughts.

The Cambridge Companion to Wittgenstein

The Cambridge Companion to Wittgenstein PDF Author: Hans Sluga
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110712025X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 533

Book Description
Updated edition of this important book, charting the development of Wittgenstein's philosophy of the mind, language, logic, and mathematics.

Elucidating the Tractatus

Elucidating the Tractatus PDF Author: Marie McGinn
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191529591
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 332

Book Description
Discussion of Wittgenstein's Tractatus is currently dominated by two opposing interpretations of the work: a metaphysical or realist reading and the 'resolute' reading of Diamond and Conant. Marie McGinn's principal aim in this book is to develop an alternative interpretative line, which rejects the idea, central to the metaphysical reading, that Wittgenstein sets out to ground the logic of our language in features of an independently constituted reality, but which allows that he aims to provide positive philosophical insights into how language functions. McGinn takes as a guiding principle the idea that we should see Wittgenstein's early work as an attempt to eschew philosophical theory and to allow language itself to reveal how it functions. By this account, the aim of the work is to elucidate what language itself makes clear, namely, what is essential to its capacity to express thoughts that are true or false. However, the early Wittgenstein undertakes this descriptive project in the grip of a set of preconceptions concerning the essence of language that determine both how he conceives the problem and the approach he takes to the task of clarification. Nevertheless, the Tractatus contains philosophical insights, achieved despite his early preconceptions, that form the foundation of his later philosophy. The anti-metaphysical interpretation that is presented includes a novel reading of the problematic opening sections of the Tractatus, in which the apparently metaphysical status of Wittgenstein's remarks is shown to be an illusion. The book includes a discussion of the philosophical background to the Tractatus, a comprehensive interpretation of Wittgenstein's early views of logic and language, and an interpretation of the remarks on solipsism. The final chapter is a discussion of the relation between the early and the later philosophy that articulates the fundamental shift in Wittgenstein's approach to the task of understanding how language functions and reveal the still more fundamental continuity in his conception of his philosophical task.

Wittgenstein and the Philosophy of Mind

Wittgenstein and the Philosophy of Mind PDF Author: Jonathan Ellis
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199737665
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 352

Book Description
Based on a conference held in June 2007 at the University of California Santa Cruz.