Wittgenstein On Logic As The Method Of Philosophy: Re-Examining The Roots And Development Of Analytic Philosophy

312 Pages·2019·2.32 MB·English

by  Oskari Kuusela

OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,23/11/2018,SPi
Wittgenstein on Logic as the Method of Philosophy
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,23/11/2018,SPi
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,23/11/2018,SPi
Wittgenstein on Logic
as the Method of
Philosophy
Re-examining the Roots and
Development of Analytic Philosophy
Oskari Kuusela
1
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,11/12/2018,SPi
3
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OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,23/11/2018,SPi
To the memory of Salla-Marja Kuusela-Nyman and
Aleksi Timoteus Tarzan Kuusela
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,23/11/2018,SPi
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,23/11/2018,SPi
Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
1. Frege’sandRussell’sNewLogic:ThePromiseofPhilosophical
Progress 13
1.1 LogicastheMethodofPhilosophy:TheNotionofaLogicalLanguage 14
1.2 TheObjectofInvestigationofLogic:Anti-Psychologism 22
1.3 Frege,Russell,andtheTractatus 30
1.4 AnInterpretationalDisputeRelatingtotheTractatus 37
2. TheTractatus’PhilosophyofLogicandtheLogocentricPredicament 45
2.1 LogicasaUniversalScienceandtheLogocentricPredicament 46
2.2 TheTractatus’SolutiontotheLogocentricPredicament 52
2.2.1 Wittgenstein’scritiqueofFrege’sandRussell’saxiomatic
accountsoflogic 54
2.2.2 Logictakescareofitself:Apriorityandlogicasaclarificatory
discipline 59
2.2.3 Logicalgeneralityandthefailureofthesesasexpressionsof
logicalnecessity 65
2.3 TruthorCorrectnessinLogicandthePossibilityofaMetaperspective 72
3. TheTractatus’PhilosophyofLogicandCarnap 77
3.1 LogicasSyntax:Agreement,SomeDifferences,andCarnap’sDeparture 79
3.2 TheWittgenstein–CarnapPlagiarismAffairRevisited 83
3.3 ThePossibilityofSpeakingAboutSyntax 87
3.4 WittgensteinandtheQuasi-SyntacticalModeofSpeech 91
3.5 Quasi-SyntaxandTranslatability 95
3.6 TheSaying–ShowingDistinctionandCarnap’sPhilosophyofLogic 99
3.7 ShowingandTolerance 105
4. IdealityandReality:BeyondApriorism,Empiricism,
andConventionalism 109
4.1 Wittgenstein’sStartingPoint:LogicasIdealandPure 110
4.2 IdealityandSublimation:TurningAwayfromConcreteCases 115
4.3 TheNewRoleoftheIdealand‘OurRealNeed’ 119
4.4 TurningtheExaminationAround:IdealizationinLogic 122
4.5 BeyondtheTrichotomyofApriorism,Empiricism,and
Conventionalism 131
4.6 TheIntertwinednessoftheFactualandtheLogical 136
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viii CONTENTS
5. TheMethodofLanguage-GamesasaMethodofLogic 142
5.1 BeyondCalculiofPropositions:PluralityandtheAbsence
ofFoundations 143
5.2 TheNotionofaLanguage-Game 151
5.3 Language-GamesastheContextfortheUseofWords 158
5.4 TheNotionsofCompletenessandSystematicTheory 162
5.5 TheStatusofLanguage-GamesasModelsforLanguageUse 169
5.6 TheMethodofLanguage-GamesasanExtensionofLogic 176
6. Non-EmpiricistNaturalism:TheUsesofNaturalHistoryinLogic 180
6.1 Quasi-Ethnology:NaturalHistoricalPicturesandTruthinLogic 182
6.2 WaysofUsingNaturalHistoryinLogic 194
6.3 EmpiricalExplanationsvsLogicalDescriptions 204
6.4 NaturalHistoryandPhilosophicalAnthropology 209
6.5 ComplementaryUsesofModels:MultidimensionalLogicalDescriptions 210
6.6 Multidimensionality,Completeness,andTruth 217
7. ResolvingtheDisputeBetweenIdealandOrdinary
LanguageApproaches 220
7.1 TwoApproachestoPhilosophicalClarification 221
7.2 Strawson’sCritiqueofCarnapandProblemswithStrawson’sCritique 226
7.3 LogicalIdealization:DissolvingtheDispute 231
7.4 ExplicationvsClarificationsasObjectsofComparison 239
Epilogue 245
Endnotes 247
Bibliography 283
Index 295
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,23/11/2018,SPi
Acknowledgements
Thisbookhas takenafewyearsto completeandin theprocessIhave accumu-
latedmanydebtsofgratitude.Partsofitwereoriginallywrittenasarticleswhich
are incorporated here, but in a restructured, expanded, and revised form. The
first articles were completed in 2010, and in 2011 the University of East Anglia
grantedmeasemester’sresearchleavetocompletesomeothers.Thebookitself
wascompletedduringanothersimilarleavein2015.IammostgratefultoUEA
for this opportunity to devote time for my research. At a more personal level
IwouldliketothankAnssiKorhonenforhiscommentsonChapters1and2,and
Gild Nir for comments on Chapters 1–3. Chapter3 was presented at the Set
Theory,ModelTheory,GeneralizedQuantifiersandFoundationsofMathemat-
icsconference,UniversityofHelsinki(September2010),UEAPhilosophySociety
(December 2010), in the seminar of the Zukunftskolleg, University of Konstanz
(February 2011), and at the Contemporary Tractatus conference, Auburn Uni-
versity,Alabama(March2011).Iwouldliketothanktheparticipantsatallthese
events for their questions and comments, as well as the anonymous referees for
JournalforthePhilosophyoftheHistoryofAnalyticPhilosophy,whereanarticle
similar to Chapter3 was published under the title ‘Carnap and the Tractatus’
PhilosophyofLogic’,1(3),2012.ApaperthatconstitutesthebasisofChapter5
waspresentedatWittgenstein’sMethodandAestheticssymposiuminMarifjøra,
Norway (May 2011), and the Visiting Speaker Seminar at Stirling (November
2011). I would like to express my gratitude to these audiences. Additionally,
I want to thank John Collins, Marie McGinn, Ed Minar, Rupert Read, Davide
Rizza, and Angus Ross for their comments on this piece. Angela Breitenbach
deserves a special thanks for comments and help with translations from
Wittgenstein’s Nachlass in connection with this article, subsequently published
as ‘The Method of Language-games as a Method of Logic’ in Philosophical
Topics, 42 (2), 2014, and for the one that constitutes the basis of Chapter4,
‘Logic and Ideality: Wittgenstein’s Way beyond Apriorism, Empiricism and
Conventionalism in the Philosophy of Logic’, published in Nuno Venturinha ed.,
The Textual Genesis of Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations, Routledge,
2013. In connection with Chapter4 I would also like to thank Alberto Emiliani,
Rupert Read, Davide Rizza, and Nuno Venturinha, as well as those who were
presentattheUniversityofSouthamptonVisitingSpeakersSeminar(October2012).
One section from my article ‘Gordon Baker, Wittgensteinian Philosophical