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Summary Fogelin - Wittgenstein's Critique of Philosophy notes
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Notes on Fogelin's 'Wittgenstein's Critique of Philosophy'
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Robert Fogelin - Wittgenstein’s critique of philosophy1. Introduction
● Philosophers fall into confusion because they are disposed to view uses of language
inappropriately
○ W doesn’t seek to replace the skewed glasses of philosophy with another
pair, but to take them off entirely - ‘our “uncorrected” way of viewing the world was
adequate to begin with’
○ W saw the job of philosophers as describing, rather than criticizing
● Wittgenstein attacks:
○ referentialism - the view that the presumptive role of words is to stand
for or refer to things
○ logical perfectionism - the view that the rules underlying our language
must have an idea structure
2. Against Referentialism
Names and objects
● There are two aspects to Wittgenstein’s critique of the Augustinian picture:
○ naming doesn’t provide an adequate model for all uses of language
■ even demonstrative pronouns e.g. ‘this’ cannot be names
- names are explained by means of pointing
○ the picture doesn’t give an adequate account even for naming itself
■ this is because a word can continue to function as a
name, to have meaning, even when its bearer no longer exist (e.g. has died -
Napolean still has meaning)
● W claims that our use of proper names is governed by a loose set of descriptions
○ hence the set of descriptions can form a loose, shifting cluster and lack a
definite or determinate sense
3. Logical Perfectionism
● W claims that our language is rule governed, but that the rules are indeterminate,
underdetermined and incoherent
○ indeterminate
■ family resemblance concepts: language actually works
without conforming to the logician’s demands for determinacy and rigour
○ underdetermination
■ sometimes our rules are incomplete - they leave gaps
● e.g. if we are asked about a
consciousness-splitting psychological experiment, and asked whether
either of the two people are the same as the first person, we don’t know
the answer, and this is because our rules for application of personal
identity don’t cover this case
○ this problem would be
solved if there were a practical need to cover the case
● it is a rudimentary mistake to suppose
that the rules governing application must already cover all cases
○ we should be wary of
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