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

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 110712025X ISBN 13: 9781107120259

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2018

Synopsis

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) is one of the most important and influential philosophers in modern times, but he is also one of the least accessible. In this volume, leading experts chart the development of his work and clarify the connections between its different stages. The essays, which are both expository and original, address central themes in Wittgenstein's writing on a wide range of topics, particularly his thinking about the mind, language, logic, and mathematics. The contributors illuminate the character of the whole body of work by focusing on key topics: the style of the philosophy, the conception of grammar contained in it, rule-following, convention, logical necessity, the self, and what Wittgenstein called, in a famous phrase, 'forms of life'. This revised edition includes a new introduction, five new essays - on Tractarian ethics, Wittgenstein's development, aspects, the mind, and time and history - and a fully updated comprehensive bibliography.

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

Charts the development of Wittgenstein's work on a wide range of topics, particularly language, logic, and mathematics. This second edition includes a new introduction and five new chapters - on Tractarian ethics, Wittgenstein's development, aspects, the mind, and time and history - as well as an updated and comprehensive bibliography.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 110712025X
• ISBN 13: 9781107120259
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 532
• Editor: Sluga Hans, Stern David G.