The Cambridge Companion to Wittgenstein (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521460255 ISBN 13: 9780521460255

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1996

Synopsis

Ludwig Wittgenstein is one of the most important and influential philosophers of the twentieth century, but he is also one of the least accessible. This volume provides a comprehensible guide to his work by a wide range of experts who are actively engaged in new work on Wittgenstein. The essays, which are both expository and original, address central themes in his philosophy of mind, language, logic, and mathematics and clarify the connections among the different stages in the development of his work.

About this title

Review

Visiting his student Ludwig Wittgenstein one night only to find him in the throes of despair, Bertrand Russell facetiously asked whether it was logic or his sins that was troubling him. "Both," Wittgenstein gravely replied. Is it any wonder that Wittgenstein the man, as well as his elusive but profound philosophical work, continue to fascinate? "Any attempt at a definitive exposition of his ideas would be doomed to failure," according to editor Hans Sluga; therefore, the Cambridge Companion to Wittgenstein is intended mainly "to alert readers to some of the most important and most interesting issues raised in Wittgenstein's philosophical writings." For the most part, the 14 essays succeed.

With the exception of Thomas Ricketts's discussion of the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, the focus of the essays is on Wittgenstein's later work, particularly the Philosophical Investigations. His conception of philosophy is approached from various angles by Robert J. Fogelin, Newton Garver, and Stanley Cavell. The format of Cavell's essay--which consists of his lecture notes from the 1960s and 1970s interspersed with afterthoughts from the 1990s--is somewhat irritating, but the depth of his insight makes up for it. Other essays deal with Wittgenstein's ideas about the philosophy of mathematics, ethics, necessity and normativity, the self, and epistemology. Especially worthy of attention is Donna M. Summerfield's "Fitting and Tracking: Wittgenstein on Representation." In explaining the development of Wittgenstein's thought about representation, Summerfield also manages to sketch the philosophical problem of representation in careful and perspicacious detail. All in all, The Cambridge Companion to Wittgenstein is recommended to anyone grappling with its enigmatic subject. --Glenn Branch

Book Description

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) is one of the most important and influential philosophers of the twentieth century, and also one of the least accessible. This volume provides a comprehensive guide to his work by a wide range of experts who address central themes in his philosophy.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0521460255
• ISBN 13: 9780521460255
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 523
• Editor: Sluga Hans D., Stern David G.