Wittgenstein’s ’Philosophical Investigations’: A Critical Guide

260 Pages·2010·1.34 MB·English

by  Dr Arif Ahmed

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WITTGENSTEIN S PHILOSOPHICAL
INVESTIGATIONS
Published in 1953, Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations had a deeply
unsettling effect upon our most basic philosophical ideas concerning
thought, sensation and language. Its claim that philosophical questions of
meaningnecessitateacloseanalysisofthewayweuselanguagecontinuesto
influenceAnglo-Americanphilosophytoday.However,itscompressedand
dialogicproseisnotalwayseasytofollow.Thiscollectionofessaysdeepens
butalsochallengesourunderstandingofthework’smajorthemes,suchas
theconnectionbetweenmeaninganduse;thenatureofconcepts;thought
and intentionality; and language games. Bringing together leading phil-
osophersandWittgensteinscholars,itoffersagenuinelycriticalapproach,
developing new perspectives and demonstrating Wittgenstein’s relevance
forcontemporaryphilosophy.Thisvolumewillappealtoreadersinterested
inthelaterWittgenstein,inadditiontothoseinterestedinthephilosophy
oflanguage,thephilosophyofmind,metaphysicsandepistemology.
arifahmed isLecturerinPhilosophyattheUniversityofCambridgeand
afellowofGirtonCollege.HeistheauthorofSaulKripke(2007).
cambridge critical guides
Titlespublishedinthisseries:
Hegel’sPhenomenologyofSpirit:ACriticalGuide
edited by dean moyar and michael quante
Mill’sOnLiberty:ACriticalGuide
edited by c.l. ten
Kant’sIdeaForAUniversalHistoryWithACosmopolitanAim:ACriticalGuide
edited by ame´lie oksenberg rorty and james schmidt
Kant’sGroundworkoftheMetaphysicsofMorals:ACriticalGuide
edited by jens timmermann
Kant’sCritiqueofPracticalReason:ACriticalGuide
edited by andrews reath and jens timmermann
Wittgenstein’sPhilosophicalInvestigations:ACriticalGuide
edited by arif ahmed
’
WITTGENSTEIN S
Philosophical Investigations
A Critical Guide
edited by
arif ahmed
UniversityofCambridge
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
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São Paulo, Delhi, Dubai, Tokyo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521886130
© Cambridge University Press 2010
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the
provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part
may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2010
ISBN-13 978-0-511-74473-0 eBook (EBL)
ISBN-13 978-0-521-88613-0 Hardback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy
of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication,
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.
Contents
Listofcontributors pagevii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction
arif ahmed 1
1 Fromreferentialismtohumanaction:theAugustiniantheory
oflanguage
robert hanna 11
2 What’sdoing?Activity,namingandWittgenstein’sresponse
toAugustine
michael luntley 30
3 Measureformeasure?Wittgensteinonlanguage-gamecriteria
andtheParisstandardmetrebar
dale jacquette 49
4 Wittgensteinonfamilyresemblanceconcepts
michael forster 66
5 Wittgensteinonconcepts
hans johann glock 88
6 Wittgensteinvscontextualism
jason bridges 109
7 Wittgensteinandthelinguisticturn
richard rorty 129
8 Rorty’sWittgenstein
paul horwich 145
v
vi Contents
9 Aremeaning,understanding,etc.definitestates?
john mcdowell 162
10 Anotherstrandintheprivatelanguageargument
david stern 178
11 Deductiveinferenceandaspectperception
arif ahmed 197
12 Rememberingintentions
william child 218
Bibliography 235
Index 245
Contributors
arif ahmed is University Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of
Cambridge.Hehaswrittenonrule-followingandprivatelanguageaswellas
onissuesincontemporaryphilosophyoflanguageandmetaphysicsrelating
toconditionalsandcausation.
jason bridges is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of
Chicago.Hehaspublishedpapersinphilosophyoflanguageandhasedited
avolumeofpapersinhonourofBarryStroud.
william child isafellowofUniversityCollegeOxfordandaUniversity
Lecturer in Philosophy. In addition to numerous articles on Wittgenstein
andphilosophyofmind,heistheauthorofCausality,Interpretationandthe
Mind(1994)andistheco-editor,withDavidCharles,ofavolumeofpapers
inhonourofDavidPears.
michael forster is Professor of Philosophy at the University of
Chicago. He is the author of Wittgenstein on the Arbitrariness of Grammar
(2004)aswellasarticlesandbooksonaverywiderangeofsubjectsinthe
historyofphilosophy.
hans-johann glock is Professor of Philosophy at the University of
Zurich and has written widely on Wittgenstein. His publications include
AWittgensteinDictionary(1996),QuineandDavidsononLanguage,Thought
and Reality (Cambridge University Press 2003) and What is Analytic
Philosophy?(CambridgeUniversityPress2008).
robert hanna isProfessorofPhilosophyattheUniversityofColorado
at Boulder, and in 2008/9 was a visiting Professor at the University of
Cambridge,whereheheldabye-fellowshipatFitzwilliamCollege.Hehas
written a number of books and papers on modern debates in metaphysics
and epistemology as well as the history of philosophy. His publications
includeKant,ScienceandHumanNature(2006)andRationalityandLogic
(2006).
vii
viii List of contributors
paul horwich is Professor of Philosophy at New York University and
has published many books and papers on philosophical logic and
metaphysics. His books include Probability and Evidence (Cambridge
UniversityPress1982)andReflectionsonMeaning(2005).
dale jacquette is Professor of Philosophy at the Pennsylvania State
University. He is the author of Wittgenstein’s Thought in Transition (1998)
andofFrege:APhilosophicalBiography(forthcoming,CambridgeUniversity
Press).
michael luntley is Professor of Philosophy at the University of
Warwick. He is the author of Contemporary Philosophy of Thought (1999)
andofWittgenstein:MeaningandJudgment(2003).
john mcdowell isDistinguishedUniversityProfessorofPhilosophyat
theUniversityofPittsburgh.Hisbest-knownandmostinfluentialworkis
MindandWorld(1994).
Before his death in 2007, richard rorty was Professor Emeritus in
Comparative Literature at Stanford University. His many works include
PhilosophyandtheMirrorofNature(1979).
david stern is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Iowa and
a Wittgenstein scholar. He is the author of Wittgenstein’s ‘Philosophical
Investigations’: An Introduction (Cambridge University Press 2004) and of
WittgensteinonMindandLanguage(1995).