The Cambridge Companion to Wittgenstein

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) is one of the most important, influential, and often-cited philosophers of the twentieth century, yet he remains one of its most elusive and least accessible. The essays in this volume address central themes in Wittgenstein’s writings on the philosophy of mind, language, logic, and mathematics. They chart the development of his work and clarify the connections between its different stages. The contributors illuminate the character of the whole body of work by keeping a tight focus on some key topics: the style of the philosophy, the conception of grammar contained in it, rule-following, convention, logical necessity, the self, and what Wittgenstein called, in a famous phrase, ‘forms of life’.

• Wittgenstein is the main selling point – he is enormously widely read and cited though not well understood • Re-assessment of posthumous texts will generate controversy since it is a topic not often treated • As in the case with all volumes in this series, accessible, comprehensive, systematic • This Companion has a four-colour cover

1. Ludwig Wittgenstein: life and work an introduction Hans Sluga; 2. Wittgenstein’s critique of philosophy Robert J. Fogelin; 3. Pictures, logic, and the limits of sense in Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Thomas Ricketts; 4. Fitting versus tracking: Wittgenstein on representation Donna M. Summerfield; 5. Philosophy as grammar Newton Garver; 6. A philosophy of mathematics between two camps Steve Gerrard; 7. Necessity and normativity Hans-Johann Glock; 8. Wittgenstein, mathematics, and ethics: resisting the attractions of realism Cora Diamond; 9. Notes and afterthoughts on the opening of Wittgenstein’s Investigations Stanley Cavell; 10. Mind, meaning, and practice Barry Stroud; 11. ‘Whose house is that?’ Wittgenstein on the self Hans Sluga; 12. The question of linguistic idealism revisited David Bloor; 13. Forms of life: mapping the rough ground Naomi Scheman; 14. Certainties of a world-picture: the epistemological investigations of On Certainty Michael Kober; 15. The availability of Wittgenstein’s philosophy David Stern.