The Struggle against Dogmatism: Wittgenstein and the Concept of Philosophy Book

Acknowledgments     xi
Abbreviations     xv
Introduction     1
Wittgenstein on Philosophical Problems: From One Fundamental Problem to Particular Problems     17
The Tractatus on philosophical problems     18
Wittgenstein's later conception of philosophical problems     27
Examples of philosophical problems as based on misunderstandings     30
Tendencies and inclinations of thinking: philosophy as therapy     43
Wittgenstein's notion of peace in philosophy: the contrast with the Tractatus     46
Two Conceptions of Clarification     54
The Tractatus's conception of philosophy as logical analysis     55
Wittgenstein's later critique of the Tractatus's notion of logical analysis     65
Clarification in Wittgenstein's later philosophy     74
From Metaphysics and Philosophical Theses to Grammar: Wittgenstein's Turn     96
Philosophical theses, metaphysical philosophy, and the Tractatus     97
Metaphysics and conceptual investigation: the problem with metaphysics     102
Conceptual investigation and the problem of dogmatism     111
Wittgenstein's turn     120
The turn and the role of rules     132
Rules as objects of comparison     140
Rules,metaphysical projection, and the logic of language     145
Grammar, Meaning, and Language     149
Grammar, use, and meaning: the problem of the status of Wittgenstein's remarks     150
Wittgenstein's formulation of his conception of meaning     158
The concept of language: comparisons with instruments and games     163
Wittgenstein's development and the advantages of his mature view     168
Examples as centers of variation and the conception of language as a family     171
Avoiding dogmatism about meaning     176
Wittgenstein's methodological shift and analyses in terms of necessary conditions     180
The Concepts of Essence and Necessity     184
Constructivist readings and the arbitrariness/nonarbitrariness of grammar     185
Problems with constructivism     188
The methodological dimension of Wittgenstein's conception of essence     192
The nontemporality of grammatical statements     195
Explanations of necessity in terms of factual regularities     198
Wittgenstein's account of essence and necessity     204
Beyond theses about the source of necessity     208
Philosophical Hierarchies and the Status of Clarificatory Statements     215
Philosophical hierarchies and Wittgenstein's "leading principle"     216
The concept of perspicuous presentation     228
The (alleged) necessity of accepting philosophical statements     238
The concept of agreement and the problem of injustice     247
The criteria of the correctness of grammatical remarks     252
Multidimensional descriptions and the new use of old dogmatic claims     258
Wittgenstein's Conception of Philosophy, Everyday Language, and Ethics     265
Metaphysics disguised as methodology     266
The historicity of philosophy     271
Philosophy and the everyday     275
Notes     287
Index     347