Wittgenstein at Work: Method in the Philosophical Investigations

The later Wittgenstein is notoriously hard to understand. His novel philosophical approach is the key to understanding his perplexing work. This volume assembles leading Wittgenstein scholars to come to grips with its least well understood aspect: the unfamiliar aims and method that shape Wittgenstein's approach.

Wittgenstein at Work investigates Wittgenstein's aims, rationale and method in two steps. The first seven chapters analyze how he proceeds in core parts of the Philosophical Investigations: the discussion of the Augustinian picture of language, ostensive definition, philosophical method, understanding, rule-following, and private language. The final five chapters examine his most striking methodological remarks: his repudiation of theory and non-trivial theses, and some core notions of his methodology: his notions of clarification, synoptic representation, nonsense, and philosophical pictures. The volume considerably advances discussion of the therapeutic aspects of his approach that are currently a focus of debate.

This volume is an indispensable methodological companion to the Philosophical Investigations, useful to both specialists and students alike.

Erich Ammereller and Eugen Fischer are both Assistant Professors of Philosophy at Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. Eugen Fischer is the author of Linguistic Creativity (Kluwer 2000) and Philosophical Delusion and its Therapy (Routledge, forthcoming).