Wittgenstein's Thought in Transition (Purdue University Press Series in the History of Philosophy) - Hardcover

Jacquette, Dale

9781557531032: Wittgenstein's Thought in Transition (Purdue University Press Series in the History of Philosophy)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 155753103X ISBN 13: 9781557531032

Publisher: Purdue University Press, 1997

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) inspired two major philosophical revolutions. The ideas presented in his Tractus Logico-Philosophicus are standardly contrasted with those in his later Blue and Brown Books and Philosophical Investigations. Yet scant attention has been paid to why Wittgenstein later rejected his early ideas and proposed a radically different view. Wittgenstein's Thought in Transition offers a detailed exposition of Wittgenstein’s philosophy as a continuous engagement with a single set of problems. Dale Jacquette argues that the key to understanding the transition in Wittgenstein’s thought is his 1929 essay "Some Remarks on Logical Form," which is reprinted in this book. Wittgenstein disowned the essay, then came to see its failure as refuting his early theory altogether and began to investigate the requirements of meaning with a new method that resulted in the characteristic innovations of his later period. A comprehensive account of Wittgenstein’s early philosophy sets the stage for the first systematic commentary on the 1929 essay to appear in the extensive literature on Wittgenstein. The main themes of Wittgenstein’s later work are then presented against the background of his rejection of the early theory. The book concludes with a critical assessment of Wittgenstein’s legacy as among the most important contributions to contemporary philosophy.

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About the Author:

Dale Jacquette is the author of Philosophy of Mind and Meinongian Logic: The Semantics of Existance and Nonexistance and the editor of Schopenhauer, Philosophy, and the Arts.

Review:

“Jacquette’s book is just what people need to give them a solid start on Wittgenstein. It is an excellent resource for scholars working on or teaching Wittgenstein’s philosophy, and it would make a valuable text for numerous standard philosophy courses.”

(Barbara Hannan)

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