Insight and Illusion: Themes in the Philosophy of Wittgenstein

366 Pages·2021·19.043 MB·English

by  P. M. S. Hacker

I N S I G H T A N D
I L L U S I O N
THOEMMES
Anthem Studies in Wittgenstein
Anthem Studies in Wittgenstein publishes new and classic works on
Wittgenstein and Wittgensteinian philosophy. This book series aims to bring
Wittgenstein’s thought into the mainstream by highlighting its relevance
to 21st-century concerns. Titles include original monographs, themed
edited volumes, forgotten classics, biographical works and books intended
to introduce Wittgenstein to the general public. The series is published in
association with the British Wittgenstein Society.
Anthem Studies in Wittgenstein sets out to put in place whatever measures
may emerge as necessary in order to carry out the editorial selection process
purely on merit and to counter bias on the basis of gender, race, ethnicity,
religion, sexual orientation and other characteristics protected by law. These
measures include subscribing to the British Philosophical Association/Society
for Women in Philosophy (UK) Good Practice Scheme.
Series Editor
Constantine Sandis – University of Hertfordshire, UK
iii
Insight and Illusion
Themes in the Philosophy
of Wittgenstein
Third Edition
P.M.S. HACKER
With a new foreword by Constantine Sandis
Anthem Press
An imprint of Wimbledon Publishing Company
www.anthempress.com
This edition first published in UK and USA 2021
by ANTHEM PRESS
75–76 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8HA, UK
or PO Box 9779, London SW19 7ZG, UK
and
244 Madison Ave #116, New York, NY 10016, USA
The first edition of the book was published in 1989
This is a reprint of the revised and corrected 1997 edition
Copyright © P.M.S. Hacker 2021
Foreword copyright © Constantine Sandis 2021
The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above,
no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means
(electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise),
without the prior written permission of both the copyright
owner and the above publisher of this book.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN-13: 978-1-78527-683-5 (Hbk)
ISBN-10: 1-78527-683-2 (Hbk)
ISBN-13: 978-1-78527-686-6 (Pbk)
ISBN-10: 1-78527-686-7 (Pbk)
This title is also available as an e-book.
FOR MY PARENTS

CONTENTS
FOREWORD xi
PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION xv
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION xix
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xxiii
I. WITTGENSTEIN’S EARLY CONCEPTION OF
PHILOSOPHY
1. Background 1
2. The ‘Preliminary’ on Philosophy 12
3. Philosophy and Illusion 15
4. Philosophy as Critique and as Analysis 22
II. THE DIALOGUE WITH FREGE AND RUSSELL
1. Agreements and Disagreements 28
2. The Grundgedanke of the Tractatus 34
3. The Laws of Logic 42
4. A Prelude to Conventionalism 50
III. MEANING, METAPHYSICS, AND THE MIND
1. The Picture Theory of Meaning 56
2. The Metaphysics of the Tractatus 65
3. Connecting Language with Reality: the role of the mind 73
IV. EMPIRICAL REALISM AND TRANSCENDENTAL
SOLIPSISM
1. The Self of Solipsism 81
2. ‘I am my World’ 90
3. ‘The limits of language means the limits of my world’ 100
4. Later Years 104
V. DISINTEGRATION AND RECONSTRUCTION
1. The Colour-Exclusion Problem 108
2. Dismantling the Tractatus 113
3. The Brouwer Lecture 120
viii
4. Moving off in Fresh Directions 128
5. The Vienna Circle and Wittgenstein’s Principle of Verification 134
VI. WITTGENSTEIN’S LATER CONCEPTION OF
PHILOSOPHY
1. A Kink in the Evolution of Philosophy 146
2. A Cure for the Sickness of the Understanding 151
3. Philosophy, Science, and Description 156
4. Philosophy and Ordinary Language 161
5. The Phenomenology and Sources of Philosophical Illusion 165
6. Systematic Philosophy 175
VII. METAPHYSICS AS THE SHADOW OF GRAMMAR
1. Grammar 179
2. The Autonomy of Grammar 185
3. Grammar and Metaphysics 193
4. A Note on Kant and Wittgenstein 206
VIII. THE REFUTATION OF SOLIPSISM
1. Introduction 215
2. From Transcendental Solipsism to Methodological Solipsism 218
3. The Solipsist’s Predicament: a restatement and second diagnosis 226
4. The Refutation 229
IX. PRIVATE LINGUISTS AND PUBLIC SPEAKERS
1. A Disease of the Intellect 245
2. Following Rules 247
3. Philosophical Investigations, § 243 251
4. The Private Language 255
5. The Epistemology of the Private Linguist 261
6. Wittgenstein’s Criticism of the Private Language 264
7. ‘Only I Know’ and ‘Only I have’ 272
X. ‘A CLOUD OF PHILOSOPHY CONDENSED INTO
A DROP OF GRAMMAR’
1. Can one know that one is in pain? 276
2. Self-consciousness: the overthrow of the Cartesian
picture 278
3. The ‘Inner’ and the ‘Outer’ 284
4. Experience and its Natural Expression 291
5. Avowals and Descriptions 297
6. Objections and Deflections 302
Contents ix
XI. CRITERIA, REALISM AND ANTI-REALISM
1. The Origins of the Idea 307
2. Plotting the Contour-lines 310
3. Further Complications 318
4. Red Herrings: realism and anti-realism 322
INDEX 337