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Philosophy 5190/6190 Wittgenstein Readings

Required textbooks:

  • Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations: The German Text, with Revised English Translation (3rd ed.) [last time I checked, the new bilingual edition was cheaper than the English-only; but you may want to doublecheck online]
  • Ludwig Wittgenstein, On Certainty
  • Ludwig Wittgenstein, Remarks on the Foundations of Mathematics (rev. ed.) [N.B.: the Revised Edition has more material than the first edition---make sure you've got the Revised]
  • Ludwig Wittgenstein, Zettel
  • Ludwig Wittgenstein, Culture and Value
  • Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Remarks
  • Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (hypertext version)
  • Saul Kripke, Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language
  • Alice Crary and Rupert Read, The New Wittgenstein

Optional textbooks:

  • Ludwig Wittgenstein, The Blue and Brown Books
  • Ludwig Wittgenstein, Notebooks, 1914-1916
  • Ray Monk, Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius
  • Cora Diamond, The Realistic Spirit

Most of these books have been in print for quite a while, and you can save money by finding them used. Amazon often has them discounted, as well.

Further readings will be made available over the course of the semester.

Remember, the secondary readings are assigned as targets for your papers. Don't assume they've gotten Wittgenstein right; look for the mistakes they're making.

  1. Aug. 20. The Philosopher of the "Logical Must": Optional pre-reading: F. R. Leavis, "Memories of Wittgenstein," in The Critic as Anti-Philosopher (on-line reserve).

  2. Aug. 22. Truth Functions and the Emptiness of the Logical Must: TLP (Abbreviations) 4.2-5.132, 5.14-5.143 (ebrary link).

    Optional reading: Robert Fogelin, Wittgenstein (2nd ed.), secs. 5.1-5.2 (pp. 54-57; on-line reserve). Copi, Symbolic Logic (4th ed.), pp. 18-29 (on-line reserve).

    Further optional reading: Warren Goldfarb, "Frege's Conception of Logic" (on reserve in the Philosophy Department).

  3. Aug. 25. The Truth-Table Epiphany and Quantification Theory: TLP 4.24; 3.3-3.318; 4.0411; 4.127-4.12721; 5.521-5.523 (ebrary link); PR 127 (pp. 148f).

    Optional reading: Frege, "On Concept and Object" (on-line reserve).

  4. Aug. 27. Pictures and Logical Space: TLP 2.1-3.144; 3.4-3.42; 4.01-4.041; 4.2-4.221 (ebrary link); PR p. 143, para. starting "Ramsey's theory of identity..."; p. 120, para. starting "Would it be possible to discover a new color?

    Optional reading: NB 29.9.14-5.10.14; 20.10.14, 4.11.14. P. M. S. Hacker, "The Rise and Fall of the Picture Theory," thru sec. 3 (pp. 85-92; on-line reserve).

  5. Aug. 29. Keeping It All Simple: TLP Preface, 1-2.225, 3.2-3.26, 4.0031. PR 10 (beginning of Part II); Part IV (pp. 75-79); PI 46.

    Optional reading: BB, p. 31, para. starting "Talking of the fact..."; NB 6.5.15, 14.6.15 [esp. p. 60, 2nd full para.], 15.6.15, 17.6.15, 18.6.15, 20.6.15.

  6. Sept. 3. Simple Objects and the Theory of Descriptions: TLP Preface, 1-2.225, 3.2-3.26, 4.0031. PR 10 (beginning of Part II); Part IV (pp. 75-79); PI 46. Russell, "On Denoting" (on-line reserve); David Stern, Wittgenstein on Mind and Language, sec. 3.1 (pp. 53-60; on-line reserve).

    Optional reading: R. M. White, "Can Whether One Proposition Makes Sense Depend on the Truth of Another?" (on-line reserve).

  7. Sept. 5. There's No Business Like Show Business: TLP 2.17-2.174; 3.26-3.3; 3.32-3.334; 4.002-4.0031; 4.1-4.1212; 4.123-4.124; 5.2-5.4; 5.54-5.5422. Ricketts, "Pictures, Logic, and the Limits of Sense in Wittgenstein's Tractatus" (on-line reserve).

    Optional reading: NB 12.9.16.

    8. TOPICS FOR THE FIRST PAPER HAVE BEEN HANDED OUT -- MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A COPY.

  8. Sept. 8. Show and Tell: TLP 5.54-5.641, 6.121-7. PR pp. 100-102 (starting "Visual space has no owner..."). Cora Diamond, "Ethics, Imagination and the Method of Wittgenstein's Tractatus" (in The New Wittgenstein).

    Optional reading: Cora Diamond, "Throwing Away the Ladder: How to Read the Tractatus," in The Realistic Spirit (on-line resource).

  9. Sept. 10. Did Wittgenstein Screw Up? ...and Consequences for the Show-Say Distinction: TLP 5.5-5.5352, 6-6.01, 6.125-6.1262. Hacker, "Was He Trying to Whistle It?" (in The New Wittgenstein).

    Optional reading: Fogelin, "The Naive Constructivism of the Tractatus" (on-line reserve); Soames, "Generality, Truth Functions, and Expressive Capacity in the Tractatus" (JSTOR); Appendix to Floyd, "Number and Ascriptions of Number in Wittgenstein's Tractatus" (pp. 180-184).

    Very optional reading: Russell, "Mathematical Logic as Based on the Theory of Types" (on-line reserve [Part I], [Part II]); Suppes, Axiomatic Set Theory, secs. 1.3-1.4 (on-line reserve).

  10. Sept. 12. Ethics and the Will: Wittgenstein, "Lecture on Ethics" (on-line reserve).

    Optional reading: Peter Winch, "Wittgenstein's Treatment of the Will" (on reserve in the Philosophy Department). NB 11.6.16-8.7.16, 14.7.16-1.8.16. 15.10.16, 4.11.16.

  11. Sept. 15. Second Thoughts about the Simples: TLP 2.14-2.15, 3.1431-3.1432, 4.241-4.243, 5.53-5.5352; PR 41; PR V (pp. 80-87), VIII (pp. 105-114); PR 116, 1st para.; PR XXI. Wittgenstein, "Some Remarks on Logical Form" (on-line reserve).

    Optional reading: NB 9.10.14, 16.8.16, 12.10.16 [remark about time]; BB pp. 26, 56; Bradley, Appearance and Reality, pp. 27-29 (on-line reserve).

  12. Sept. 17. Mathematics with Macros: TLP 6.2-6.241. PR XIX (secs 200-204).

    Optional reading: NB 20.6.15; PR pp. 138f. Juliet Floyd, "Number and Ascriptions of Number in Wittgenstein's Tractatus" (on-line reserve).

  13. Sept. 19. Solipsism: Review TLP 5.6-5.641, 6.45-7. PR VI; CV p. 7 (paras. 3-4); PR p. 84 (4th para., "The proposition...").

    Optional reading: PR pp. 100 (from "Visual space has essentially no owner")-102 (thru end sec. 73). Eddy Zemach, "Wittgenstein's Philosophy of the Mystical" (on reserve in the Philosophy Department, and in Marriott), and, for your amusement, Dreben and Floyd, "Tautology: How Not to Use a Word" (on-line reserve).

  14. Sept. 22. What Went Wrong in Tractarian Math? TLP 5.2523; PR XII (esp. sec. 127), Appendix ("The Concept of Infinity in Mathematics," pp. 304-314).

    Optional reading: PR XIII-XV.

  15. Sept. 24. Language Games -- A New Method: PI 1-32; Warren Goldfarb, "I Want You to Bring Me a Slab" (on-line reserve).

    Optional reading: BB pp. 16f, 77-112 (Brown Book thru sec. 61); Z 648; RFM VI-40. Hacker, P. M. S., "Metaphysics as the Shadow of Grammar" (on-line reserve).

    16. MODEL PAPER ON RESERVE IN THE PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT AND MARRIOTT LIBRARY

  16. Sept. 26. Was Wittgenstein on the Grassy Knoll? NO CLASS FRIDAY SEPT 26 (I'll be giving a talk at Kansas State).

    Optional reading: for your amusement, The Jew of Linz, chs. 1-2 (on reserve in Marriott and in the Philosophy Department).

  17. Sept. 29. The Realistic Spirit: PI Preface, 32-64. Cora Diamond, "Realism and the Realistic Spirit" (in The Realistic Spirit [on-line resource]).

    Optional reading: BB pp. 9 (middle)-10; Vicki Hearne, "How to Say 'Fetch!'", in Adam's Task: Calling Animals by Name (on-line reserve).

  18. Oct. 1. Language Games, Concepts, Universals: PI 65-88.

    Optional reading: BB p. 17; Warren Goldfarb, "Wittgenstein on Fixity of Meaning" (on-line reserve).

  19. Oct. 3. NO CLASS -- FALL BREAK.

    It's probably a good idea to start in on Kripke, Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language, as your break reading.

  20. Oct. 6. What Is Philosophy? PI 89-136. Stanley Cavell, "Excursus on Wittgenstein's Vision of Language," in The New Wittgenstein.

    Optional reading: Rogers Albritton, "On Wittgenstein's use of the Term 'Criterion'" (on-line resource); BB pp. 1-4, 24-25; Z 466, 571.

    21. Time to start thinking about how to write your next paper: read Orwell, "Politics and the English Language" (on-line reserve).

  21. Oct. 8. Rules for Tools: PI 137-202. Saul Kripke, Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language, vii-113, 146 (note added in proof).

    Optional reading: BB pp. 33-34; Cora Diamond, "Rules: Looking in the Right Place" (on reserve in the Philosophy Department).

  22. Oct. 10. The So-Called So-Called Private Language Argument: PI 203-298.

    Optional reading: Z 472-487, 498, 532-536, 546-550, 552, 649. P. F. Strawson, "Review of Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations" (on-line reserve).

  23. Oct. 13. Kripkenstein's 'Skeptical Solution': PI 299-402.

    Optional reading: RFM III-70, 72. Ed Minar, "Wittgenstein and the 'Contingency of Community'" (on-line reserve); David Finkelstein, "Wittgenstein on Rules and Platonism," in The New Wittgenstein.

  24. Oct. 15. Seeing As... and Wittgenstein as Metaethics for Virtue Theory: PI, Part II, sec. xi. McDowell, "Non-Cognitivism and Rule-Following" (in The New Wittgenstein. (Review Cavell, "Excursus".)

    Optional reading: RFM III-77; Brown Book, II, sec 16 (pp. 162-165); McDowell, "Virtue and Reason" (on-line reserve).

    Very optional reading: N. R. Hanson, Patterns of Discovery (proto-Kuhnian Wittgenstein-influenced philosophy of science; on reserve in Marriott).

  25. Oct. 17. Does the Mental Have to Have a Substratum? PI 403-428; Part II, secs. i-x; Z 605-613

    Optional reading: Margaret Olivia Little, "Virtue as Knowledge: Objections from the Philosophy of Mind"; BB pp. 5-9, 11-15, 30 (first full para.), 40, 143-157; PI 536-537, 539.

  26. Oct. 20. A Genuinely Handwaving Argument: G. E. Moore, "Proof of an External World" (on-line reserve). OC thru middle of p. 30.

  27. Oct. 22. A Transcendental Argument in Wittgenstein? OC pp. 30 thru 63; PI 481-486; Z 571.

  28. Oct. 24. What Can We Know About Epistemology? OC thru end. PI p. 191, 1st para., p. 188 (4th para.) to p. 189 (top), p. 191 (last para.) to 192 (5th para.).

    Optional reading: PI 466-486, 575, 578-580, 589-590, 635, 639, 678-679; Z 396-412.

  29. Oct. 27. The Return of the Logical Must: RFM I:3-40, 51-57, 61-67, 69, 72, 74-76, 78, 81-84, 99, 102-103, 113-122, 125, 128, 131, 133, 157-160, 162, 165.

    Optional reading: Z 309; RFM I:106-111, 132, 138; OC 303; Juliet Floyd, "Wittgenstein on 2, 2, 2... : The Opening of Remarks on the Foundations of Mathematics" (on-line reserve).

  30. Oct. 29. Constructivism and Surveyability: RFM I: 154, 165-168; PI 122, 435, 516-517, 593, 599, 654-655; Floyd, in The New Wittgenstein, pp. 236-238 (thru end sec. 1). Michael Dummett, "Wittgenstein's Philosophy of Mathematics" (on-line resource).

    Optional reading: Baker, Wittgenstein: Meaning and Understanding, pp. 305-309 (on-line reserve); Floyd, "On Saying What You Really Want to Say: Wittgenstein, Goedel, and the Trisection of the Angle" (on-line reserve); PI 463; BB 56 (bottom)-59 (middle), 62 (esp. bottom); PR p. 247 (2nd para); CV pp. 40 (3rd and 5th full paras), 78 (2nd para.); Z461, 525.

  31. Oct. 31. Logical Aliens: OC 152, 375; RFM I:93-94, 112, 135-137, 140, 142-143, 147-152, 156; PI 491-492, 496-497, 499, 520, 527.

    Optional reading: RFM I: 153, 155; RFM Appendix 1 (pp. 102-110); PI 547-557 (incl. p. 124, bottom), 594; Z 331, 339; take another look at CV p. 78 (2nd para.); David Cerbone, "How To Do Things with Wood," in The New Wittgenstein.

  32. Nov. 3. Do Wittgensteinians Have to Be Politically Conservative? CV thru p. 30. Crary, "Wittgenstein's Philosophy in Relation to Political Thought", in The New Wittgenstein.

    Optional reading: Z 320; Diamond, "Experimenting on Animals," in The Realistic Spirit (on-line resource).

  33. Nov. 5. Must-Free Ethics: CV thru p. 60. Diamond, "Eating Meat and Eating People," in The Realistic Spirit (on-line resource).

    Optional reading: RFM VI-49.

  34. Nov. 7. The Ontological Argument as a Riddle: CV thru end. RFM I:42-50, 58, 60, 68, 70; PR XIII; Diamond, "Riddles and Anselm's Riddle," in The Realistic Spirit (on-line resource; also on reserve in the Philosophy Department.)

    Optional reading: PI 463; Floyd in The New Wittgenstein, pp. 250-252 (thru end sec. 3).

  35. Nov. 10. Ethics without a Subject Matter: Crary, "Wittgenstein and Ethics: A Discussion with Reference to On Certainty" (on-line reserve; also on reserve in the Philosophy Department). Review Diamond, "Eating Meat and Eating People," in The Realistic Spirit (on-line resource).

    Further optional reading: James Conant, "Putting Two and Two Together: Kierkegaard, Wittgenstein, and the Point of View for Their Work as Authors" (on-line reserve, part I, on-line reserve. part II).

  36. Nov. 12. Wittgenstein contra Internalism: PI 431-465, 487-490, 493-496, 498, 503-506, 519, 544-546, 572, 583-586, 591-592, 653; PI 611-641, 647, 658-660. Crary, "Wittgenstein and Ethics: A Discussion with Reference to On Certainty" (on-line reserve; also on reserve in the Philosophy Department).

    Optional reading: Z 575-604; Brown Book II:6 (pp. 143f).

    Background reading: Williams, "Internal and External Reasons"; John Robertson, "Internalism, Practical Reason, and Motivation" (both in Millgram, Varieties of Practical Reasoning, on reserve in Marriott).

  37. Nov. 14. Who's Afraid of Contradications? RFM IV:55-60; V:28; Z 293-294, 685-691; PR Appendix ("Consistency", pp. 318-346).

    Optional reading: RFM VII:11-12, 15, 34-35; "Consistency" (Crispin Wright, Wittgenstein on the Foundations of Mathematics, ch. 16; on reserve in the Philosophy Department; on-line reserve).

    Further optional reading: Diamond, "Wright's Wittgenstein," in The Realistic Spirit (on-line resource).

  38. Nov. 17. The Excluded Muddle: RFM V: 9-14, 17-20, 23-26, 46, 50; VI 6; Z 677, 682-683.

    Optional reading: Rest of RFM V; RFM VII-41; Z 258-260, 272-276; BB p. 161, last full para.; PR p. 151 ("I need hardly say...").

  39. Nov. 19. Does the Philosophy of Mathematics Fix the Problem in the Private Language Argument? RFM IV, V-5 (2nd para. on p. 262), VI 1-14, 32-34, 41; Z 62-68, 78, 195-197, 201, 257, 283-290, 325, 391, 467, 695-697; Diamond, "Does Bismarck Have a Beetle in His Box? The Private Language Argument in the Tractatus" (in The New Wittgenstein).

    Optional reading: Rest of RFM VI; Hilary Putnam, "Rethinking Mathematical Necessity" (in The New Wittgenstein); Douglas Gasking, "Mathematics and the World" (on reserve in the Philosophy Department).

  40. Nov. 21. Surveyability Reviewed: PI 463; PR p. 247 (2nd para); CV pp. 40 (3rd and 5th full paras. ['Fortnum and Mason' and 'Baedeker']), 78 (2nd para.); Z 461, 525.

    Optional reading: Barry Stroud, "Wittgenstein and Logical Necessity" (on-line resource); RFM VII-20, 36 (4th para.); review RFM I: 154, 165-168; PI 122, 435, 516-517, 593, 599, 654-655; BB 56 (bottom)-59 (middle), 62 (esp. bottom).

  41. Nov. 24. What's Wrong with the Diagonal Argument? RFM VII; review RFM II; PR 174 (para. 3); Kamke, Theory of Sets, pp. 1-11 (on reserve in the Philosophy Department).

    Optional reading: Joseph Cowan, "Wittgenstein's Philosophy of Logic" (on reserve in the Philosophy Department).

  42. Nov. 26. How Can You Search for a Proof? PR XIII; PR 27, 168 (last 2 paras.); Z 457; RFM VII:40 (paras. 6-8).

    Optional reading: Alice Ambrose, "Wittgenstein on Some Questions in Foundations of Mathematics" (on reserve in the Philosophy Department).

    43. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

  43. Dec. 1. Dogmatists without a Dogma: The Emerson-Hall Wittgenstein Paradox:

    The Shibboleth List!

    Optional reading: Iris Murdoch, "The Idea of Perfection" (in Millgram, Varieties of Practical Reasoning, on reserve in Marriott).

  44. Dec. 3. What We Cannot Speak About [Because the Emerson-Hall Crowd Is Always Looking for a Straight Man] We Must Pass Over in Silence: Optional reading: Jaakko Hintikka, "What Does the Wittgensteinian Inexpressible Express?" (on reserve in the Philosophy Department).

    45. Graded papers for everyone who's not a philosophy graduate student are available in the Philosophy Department. (Check with Lenna Hanson.)

 
 

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