Table Of ContentSwansea Studies inPhilosophy
General Editor: D. Z. Phillips, Rush Rhees Research Professor, University
College of Wales, Swansea and Danforth Professor of Philosophy of Religion,
ClaremontGraduateUniversity
Philosophyisthe struggle for clarityaboutthe contexts of human discoursewe
engage in. What we need is not theoretical explanation, but clarification and
elucidation of what lies before us. Recent returns to theory in many fields of
philosophy, involving more and more convoluted attempts to meet inevitable
counter-examples to such theories, make this need all the more urgent. This
series affords an opportunity for writers who share this conviction, one as
relevant to logic, epistemology and the philosophy of mind, as it is to ethics,
politics, aesthetics and the philosophy of religion. Authors will be expected to
engage with the thought of influential philosophers and contemporary
movements, thusmakingtheseriesafocal pointfor lively discussion.
Titleinclude:
LilliAlanen, SaraHeinamaaandThomasWallgren
COMMONALITYANDPARTICULARITYINETHICS
ChristopherCordner
ETHICALENCOUNTERS
Knowledge andMoralMeaning
DavidCockburn
OTHERHUMANBEINGS
IlhamDilman
WITTGENSTEIN'SCOPERNICANREVOLUTION
The QuestionofLinguisticIdealism
JohnEdelman
ANAUDIENCEFORMORALPHILOSOPHY?
RaimondGaita
GOOD ANDEVIL
AnAbsoluteConception
D.Z.Phillips
WITTGENSTEINANDRELIGION
RECOVERINGRELIGIOUSCONCEPTS
ClosingEpistemicDivides
Rush Rhees (editedbyD.Z.Phillips)
MORALQUESTIONS
SwanseaStudiesinPhilosophy
SeriesStandingOrderISBN0-333-71504-7hardcover
(outsideNorthAmericaonly)
You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a
standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to
usattheaddressbelowwithyournameandaddress,thetitleoftheseriesandthe
ISBNquotedabove.
CustomerServicesDepartment,MacmillanDistributionLtd,Houndmills,Basing
stoke, HampshireRG216XS,England
Wittgenstein's Copernican
Revolution
The Question of Linguistic Idealism
Ilham Dilman
*
© ilham Oilman2002
All rights reserved.No reproduction, copyortransmission of
this publication may bemadewithout written permission.
No paragraphof this publication may bereproduced,copiedor
transmitted savewith written permissionor in accordancewith
the provisionsof the Copyright, DesignsandPatentsAct 1988,
or underthe terms of any licencepermittinglimited copying
issuedbythe Copyright LicensingAgency,90Tottenham Court
Road, LondonW1T 4LP.
Any personwho doesany unauthorised act in relation to this
publication may beliableto criminal prosecution andcivil
claimsfor damages.
Theauthor hasassertedhisright to beidentified
asthe author of this work in accordancewith the
Copyright, DesignsandPatentsAct 1988.
Firstpublished2002 by
PALGRAVE
Houndmills, Basingstoke, HampshireRG21 6XSand
175 Fifth Avenue,New York,N.Y.10010
Companiesandrepresentativesthroughout the world
PALGRAVE isthe newglobal academicimprint of
St.Martin's Press LLC ScholarlyandReference Divisionand
Palgrave Publishers Ltd(formerly Macmillan Press Ltd).
ISBN13:978-0-333-97354-7hardback
Thisbookisprinted onpapersuitable for recycling andmade
from fullymanagedandsustainedforest sources.Logging,
pulping andmanufacturingprocessesareexpectedto conform
to the environmentalregulations ofthe countryoforigin.
Acataloguerecordfor this bookisavailable
from the British Library.
Libraryof CongressCataloging-in-Publication Data
Oilman,ilham.
Wittgenstein's Copernicanrevolution: the question
of linguistic idealism/llharnOilman.
p.cm.-(Swansea studiesin philosophy)
Includesbibliographical referencesandindex.
ISBN0-333-97354-2 (cloth)
1. Wittgenstein, Ludwig,1889-1951. 2. Idealism.
3. Language andlanguages-Philosophy. I. Title.
II. Swansea studiesin philosophy (Palgrave (Firm))
B3376.W5640552001
192-dc21 2001045179
PrintedandboundinGreatBritain by
CPIAntonyRowe,ChippenhamandEastbourne
Table of Contents
DetailedTable ofContents vii
Acknowledgements x
Introduction 1
1. Realism and its Rejection:
Wittgenstein's Copernican Revolution 18
2. The Dangers in Rejecting Realism: Linguistic Idealism 38
3. Wittgenstein and Linguistic Idealism S7
4. BernardWilliams: Wittgenstein and Idealism 83
S. BernardWilliams: ASophisticatedRealism 96
6. G. E.M. Anscombe: Was Wittgenstein a Linguistic Idealist? 110
7. Cora Diamond: Wittgenstein and the Realistic Spiritin
Philosophy 131
8. HilaryPutnam: Metaphysical and Internal Realism 146
9. HilaryPutnam: Ethics and Reality 172
10. Conclusion: Realityand Human Life 206
Nores 220
Bibliography 221
Index 224
v
Detailed Table of Contents
Introduction 1
1. Realismandits Rejection: Wittgenstein's
Copernican Revolution 18
1. WhatisPhilosophical Realism? 18
2. WhatistheProblemaboutthe Relationbetween
Languageand Reality? 24
3. Wittgenstein's Anti-realism: AreGrammatical Features
of ourLanguage, then, not Responsible to Anything? 28
4. Ifthe Relation between Language and Reality isInternal
does this Mean thatbefore there was Language there
was no Reality? 32
5. Conclusion: Wittgenstein'sAnti-Realismisnot aForm of
Idealism 35
2. TheDangers in RejectingRealism: Linguistic Idealism 38
1. What isLinguistic Idealism? 38
2. Rejection ofRealism: Appreciatingits Implications 40
3. Language and the Human World 47
4. Conclusion: Logical Categories and Concepts in Use 52
3. WittgensteinandLinguistic Idealism 57
1. Was Wittgenstein a Linguistic Idealist? 57
2. Wittgenstein and Hume onthe Problem of Induction 59
3. Wittgenstein and Bambroughon the Problem of
Universals 67
4. Wittgenstein and Kant on the Limits of Empiricism 73
5. TakingStock 77
4. BernardWilliams: WittgensteinandIdealism 83
1. The Tractatus andTranscendental Solipsism 83
2. The Investigations andTranscendental Idealism 85
3. On Certaintyand Relativism 87
4. What does Wittgenstein ReallyThink? 90
5. Conclusion 95
vii
viii DetailedTableofContents
5. BernardWilliams: A SophisticatedRealism 96
1. Realism: Language, Knowledge and
Reality - ASketch of Williams' View 96
2. Williams' Absolute Conception of Reality 103
3. Criticism of Williams' Absolute Conception 107
6. G. E.M. Anscombe: Was Wittgensteina
Linguistic Idealist? 110
1. The Investigations and the Question of Linguistic Idealism 110
a. 'Essence isexpressedby Grammar' (P.!., §371) 110
b. Wittgenstein's alter-ego: 'But there reallyare four
primarycolours' (Z., §331) 112
c. Does havingdifferent concepts mean not realizing
somethingthatwe realize? (P.!., II,§xii) 115
d. Anscombe'sTest for Linguistic Idealism 116
e. Mathematics isa 'phraseology' and as such
'a suburb of ourlanguage' (Wittgenstein) 118
2. On Certaintyand the Question of Cultural Relativism 120
a. Criticism ofAlien Beliefsand Practices: in the end
ourreasons run out, we resort to
persuasion (D.C.,§612) 120
b. IsWittgenstein a Cultural Relativist? 123
3. Conclusion 128
7. CoraDiamond: Wittgensteinandthe Realistic
Spirit in Philosophy 131
1. 'RealismWithout Empiricism' 131
2. Truth and Falsity in Philosophy 140
3. Conclusion 144
8. HilaryPutnam:MetaphysicalandInternal Realism 146
1. Two Kinds of Realism? 146
2. Putnam Not Committedto Linguistic Idealism 153
3. Kant and Putnam's Realism without Dichotomies 156
4. The laterPutnam: Cleaningup his 'InternalRealism'
in Rorty's Mirror 162
5. Conclusion 169
9. HilaryPutnam: EthicsandReality 172
1. Putnam's Ethical Realism 172
2. Wittgenstein's 'Lecture on Ethics' 176
3. Fact and Value 186
Detailed Table ofContents ix
4. The Reality of Moral Values 188
5. Objectivityand Moral Knowledge 193
6. Moral Learning: Comingto Moral Knowledge 196
7. Putnam's Realism without Dichotomies in Ethics 199
8. Conclusion 203
10. Conclusion: Realityand HumanLife 206
1. LookingBack 206
2. Simone Weil onthe World asSomethingWe Read 210
3. Conclusion 217
