Wittgenstein's Metaphysics

Wittgenstein's Metaphysics offers an interpretation of the fundamental ideas of Ludwig Wittgenstein.

John W. Cook (Author)

9780521460194, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 January 1994

380 pages
23.5 x 15.9 x 2.9 cm, 0.713 kg

"This lucidly written book is single-mindedly devoted to exhibiting Wittgenstein's work as continuous development within traditional metaphysics....A special merit of the book is the presentation, in the Introduction, of these argued for, and the so-called myths which Cook argues against." Alice Ambrose, International Studies in Philosophy

Wittgenstein's Metaphysics offers an interpretation of the fundamental ideas of Ludwig Wittgenstein. It takes issue with the conventional view that after 1930 Wittgenstein rejected the philosophy of the Tractatus and developed a wholly new conception of philosophy. By tracing the evolution of Wittgenstein's ideas Cook shows that they are neither as original nor as difficult as is often supposed. Wittgenstein was essentially an empiricist, and the difference between his early views (as set forth in the Tractatus) and the later views (as expounded in the Philosophical Investigations) lies chiefly in the fact that after 1930 he replaced his version of reductionism with something subtler. Nevertheless, he ended where he began, as an empiricist armed with a theory of meaning.

Preface
List of abbreviations
Introduction
Part I. From Idealism to Pure Realism: 1. Wittgenstein's philosophical beginnings
2. Neutral monism
3. The 'objects' of the Tractatus
4. The essence of the world can be shown but not said
5. What the solipsist means is quite correct
6. Pure realism and the elimination of private objects
Part II. The Metaphysics of Wittgenstein's Later Philosophy: 7. Wittgenstein's phenomenalism
8. A new philosophical method
9. Wittgenstein's behaviourism
10. Wittgenstein and Kohler
Part III. Causation and Science in a Phenomenal World: 11. Hume on causation
12. Wittgenstein's Humean view of causation
13. The problem of induction
Part IV. Logical Possibilities and the Possibility of Knowledge: 14. Logical possibilities and philosophical method
15. The search for a phenomenalist's theory of knowledge
Part V. The Past, Memory, and the Private Language Argument: 16. Memory, tenses and the past
17. Wittgenstein's analysis of mental states and powers
18. Following a rule
19. The private language argument
20. Names of sensations and the use theory of meaning
Name index
Subject index.

Subject Areas: Analytical philosophy & Logical Positivism [HPCF5]