Wittgenstein and Democratic Politics

This volume demonstrates how Wittgenstein’s philosophy can illuminate our understanding of politics and open new ways of conceptualizing democratic theory and practice. Its focus is on language, reason and communication as central to identifying present confusions in our understanding of democracy.

The book seeks to engage Wittgenstein’s philosophical insights, aiming to go beyond the dichotomous oppositions and conceptual entanglements pervading existing frameworks of social and political theories of democracy. Its key topic is the irreplaceable role of dialogue in civic democratic engagement as a condition for the understanding of self and others and, hence, for political life in which reason has a role. Indeed, it presents concrete examples of how Wittgenstein can be constructively applied to current political discourse. Part I of the volume focuses on the general idea of applying Wittgenstein’s philosophy to political and democratic theory and explains the deep and intrinsic relation between Wittgenstein’s thought and politics. Part II discusses Wittgenstein’s concrete concepts as illuminating for understanding selected aspects of democratic politics. Part III deals with a possible exchange between Wittgenstein and other political thinkers, especially Hannah Arendt.

Wittgenstein and Democratic Politics will appeal to researchers and advanced students working on Wittgenstein’s philosophy, political philosophy and democratic theory.

Lotar Rasiński is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the DSW University of Lower Silesia, Wroclaw, Poland. He is the author of many articles and six books, including the 2012 award-winning monograph, Following Marx and Wittgenstein. Social Criticism without Critical Theory (in Polish), and Marxism and Education. International Perspectives on Theory and Action (ed., Routledge, 2018).

Anat Biletzki is the Albert Schweitzer Professor of Philosophy at Quinnipiac University, USA, and Professor of Philosophy at Tel Aviv University, Israel. She is the author of Philosophy of Human Rights: A Systematic Introduction (Routledge, 2019). Her publications include books and articles on Ludwig Wittgenstein, Thomas Hobbes, analytic philosophy, political thought, digital culture and human rights.

Leszek Koczanowicz is a Professor of Cultural Studies and Political Science at the SWPS University (Poland). Leszek Koczanowicz is the author and editor of many books and articles; his recent books include Anxiety and Lucidity: Reflections on Culture in Times of Unrest (Routledge 2020) and The Emancipatory Power of the Body in Everyday Life: Niches of Liberation (2023).

Alois Pichler is the Head of the Bergen Wittgenstein Archives and teaches Wittgenstein and Philosophy at the University of Bergen. Recent publications include the monograph Style, Method and Philosophy in Wittgenstein (2023) and the article “Glaube und Aberglaube nach Wittgenstein” (2024).

Thomas Wallgren is a Professor of Philosophy, and director of The von Wright and Wittgenstein Archives at the University of Helsinki. He is editor of Challenging Authoritarian Capitalism: The Transformative Power of the World Social Forum (Routledge, 2023) and of The Creation of Wittgenstein: Understanding the Roles of Rush Rhees, Elizabeth Anscombe and Georg Henrik von Wright (Bloomsbury Academic, 2023).