Wittgenstein: Opening Investigations

Michael Luntley s provocative study of Philosophical Investigations challenges some prevalent basic assumptions concerning the orientation provided by the work s opening sections. It will profit anyone with an interest in Wittgenstein.

Adrian Moore, University of Oxford

An original, radical, and iconoclastic reading of the Philosophical Investigations.

David Stern, University of Iowa

Preface ix

Introduction xiii

I.1 Things Unravel A Snapshot xiii

I.2 Four Key Points xv

I.3 Seeing the Text Aright xvii

I.4 Opening Methodological Remarks xxiii

I.5 Outline xxviii

1 Beginning with §1 1

1.1 Starting with Augustine 1

1.2 Three Things in Section 1 4

1.3 Names are Fundamental 9

1.4 The Wide Angle View 15

1.5 From the Augustinian Conception to Language Games 18

2 Ostensive Definition: The Shape of the Argument 35

2.1 Introduction 35

2.2 Ostension and Ostensive Definition 37

2.3 Two Issues: Metaphysical and Developmental 44

2.4 Substantive and Commonplace Roles for Ostension 47

2.5 Wittgenstein s Use of Ostensive Definition 57

2.6 Wittgenstein on Learning 66

2.7 Ostensive Definition 74

3 Linguistic Regularity, Grammar and Autonomy 88

3.1 Introduction 88

3.2 Regularity and Grammar Explanations and Travelogs 89

3.3 Norms, Fitness, Going Up the Garden Path 95

3.4 Wittgenstein s Idealism 98

3.5 Platitudes From Bold to Modest Realism 101

3.6 Wittgenstein s Argument 108

3.7 Demonstrative Thoughts 114

3.8 Closing Oughts 116

4 Explanations 125

4.1 Introduction 125

4.2 Three Claims in §109 127

4.3 Philosophy can Offer No Explanations 132

4.4 Insightful Descriptions 143

4.5 The Sense of Fit 152

Appendix What Happens to the Private Language Argument? 159

Bibliography 170

Index 000

Michael Luntley is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick. He is the author of Wittgenstein: Meaning and Judgment (Blackwell, 2003) and Contemporary Philosophy of Thought (Blackwell, 1999) and has published dozens of articles in peer–reviewed journals, including Mind & Language, Analysis, and Philosophical Quarterly.