Blind obedience : paradox and learning in the later Wittgenstein / Meredith Williams.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Williams, Meredith, 1947-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 1889-1951. Philosophische Untersuchungen.

Wittgenstein, Ludwig.

Philosophy.

Language and languages--Philosophy.

Language and languages.

Semantics (Philosophy).

Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 1889-1951.

Physical Description:

xii, 332 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Routledge, 2010.

Summary:

There is considerable debate amongst philosophers as to the basic philosophical problem Wittgenstein is attempting to solve in Philosophical Investigations. In this bold and original work, Meredith Williams argues that it is the problem of "normative similarity."

In Blind Obedience Williams demonstrates how Wittgenstein criticizes traditional, representationalist theories of language by employing the "master/novice" distinction of the learner, arguing that this distinction is often overlooked but fundamental to understanding philosophical problems about mind and language.

The book not only provides revealing discussions of Wittgenstein's corpus but also intricate analyses of the work of Brandom, Dummett, Frege, Sellars, Davidson, Cavell and others. These are usefully compared in a bid to better situate Wittgenstein's non-intellectualist, non-theoretical approach and to highlight its unique features. Book jacket.

Contents:

Structure and content of the philosophical investigations

Wittgenstein's metaphilosophy

The method of description

Wittgenstein's distinctive arguments : from mistake to paradox

Two domains : linguistic mastery vs. initiate learning

The structure of the book

Playing the game

The Fregean picture of language

Wittgenstein's rejection of Frege's idea

Builders game : language or signaling?

Dummett's challenge : sense vs. force

The domestication of reference

The problem of normative similarity 1 : ostension

Rejection of Quine's picture of language

Objects and paradigms

Ostensive teaching and social practices

Logical form and the paradox of thought

The subliming of logic

Frege's idea and the paradox of thought

Davidson's challenge : meaning and logical form

The limits of systematicity

Meaning and the paradox of interpretation

The problem of normative similarity 2 : rules

Two pleas for interpretation

The community view and reductionism

The individualist view and mystification normativity and the threat of regularism

Rules and regularities

The public basis of normativity

The social basis of normativity : the negative argument

The social basis of normativity : the positive argument

Necessity and the threat of psychologism

Two forms of holism

Stage-setting : conventions without decisions

Background technique : necessity without metaphysics

Normativity and "psychologized" necessity

Learning, trust, and certainty

The paradoxes of consciousness

The problem of normative similarity 3 : consciousness

The epistemology of subjectivity : paradox of self-knowledge

The ontology of subjectivity : paradox of sensation

Cartesian thought experiments and the expressivist view

Criteria, deception, and the new problem of other minds.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780415553001

0415553008

9780203870815

0203870816

OCLC:

402541103