How Many Wittgensteins?

In Alois Pichler & Simo Säätelä (eds.), Wittgenstein: The Philosopher and his Works. Ontos Verlag (2006)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

The paper maps out and responds to some of the main areas of disagreement over the nature of Wittgenstein’s philosophy: (1) Between defenders of a “two Wittgensteins” reading (which draws a sharp distinction between early and late Wittgenstein) and the opposing “one Wittgenstein” interpretation. (2) Among “two-Wittgensteins” interpreters as to when the later philosophy emerged, and over the central difference between early and late Wittgenstein. (3) Between those who hold that Wittgenstein opposes only past philosophy in order to do philosophy better and those who hold that Wittgenstein aimed to bring an end to philosophy and teach us to get by without a replacement. It is shown that each of these debates depends on some deeply un-Wittgensteinian, and quite mistaken, assumptions. It is concluded that Wittgenstein’s most polished writing, most notably in Philosophical Investigations I §§ 1–425, is best understood as a kind of Pyrrhonism which aims to subvert philosophical theorizing, by means of a polyphonic dialogue. Because this delicate balance between philosophical questions and their dissolution is not achieved in most of his other published and unpublished writings, we should be very cautious when using the theories and methods we find in those other writings as a guide to reading the Philosophical Investigations.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,616

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Wittgensteins Bilddenken.Dieter Mersch - 2006 - Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie 54 (6):925-942.
Die Verwicklungen im Denken Wittgensteins. [REVIEW]Robert Sokolowski - 1984 - Review of Metaphysics 38 (2):408-411.
Zu wittgensteins theorie der sprachspiele.Hans Lenk - 1967 - Kant Studien 58 (1-4):458-480.
Wittgensteins Paradoxon des Verstehens.Adolf Rami - 2002 - Zeitschrift für Philosophische Forschung 56 (2):220 - 238.
Eine biolinguistische Kritik Wittgensteins.Bernward Gesang - 1992 - Zeitschrift für Philosophische Forschung 46 (4):584 - 590.
Ist Wittgensteins Tractatus in irgendeinem Sinne mystisch?Nikolay Milkov - 2004 - Theologie Und Philosophie 79 (4):511–26.
Bilder, zweiwertige Logik und negative Tatsachen in Wittgensteins "Tractatus".Herbert Hrachovec - 1978 - Zeitschrift für Philosophische Forschung 32 (4):526 - 539.
Weshalb sind die "Philosophischen Untersuchungen" Wittgensteins nur ein Album.Jean-Pierre Schobinger - 1991 - Zeitschrift für Philosophische Forschung 45 (2):249 - 256.

Analytics

Added to PP
2012-02-12

Downloads
38 (#365,484)

6 months
11 (#128,523)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

References found in this work

Wittgenstein on mind and language.David G. Stern - 1995 - New York: Oxford University Press.

Add more references