WITTGENSTEIN AND LATER WITTGENSTEINIANS
PHIL 7205, Fall 2014 Thursday 4-6 p.m., Collins Professor: Dr. Stephen Grimm Office hours: Monday 3-5 p.m. email: [email protected]
Course Description
This class will focus on the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein, both early and late, along with philosophers who have engaged with themes from Wittgenstein’s philosophy.
The “later Wittgensteinians” we will read include Elizabeth Anscombe, Cora Diamond, Saul Kripke, Alasdair MacIntyre, Herbert McCabe, Genia Schonbaumsfeld, Charles Taylor, Meredith Williams, Michael Williams, and Peter Winch.
Texts
Anscombe, Elizabeth. Intention.
Kripke, Saul. Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language.
Wittgenstein, Ludwig. On Certainty.
Wittgenstein, Ludwig. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. Trans. C.K. Ogden.
Wittgenstein, Ludwig. Philosophical Investigations. 4th edn.
Requirements and Grading
Two papers and regular participation are required for the course. The first paper is due on October 27th, and the second on December 18th. Both papers should be no more than 3,000 words (roughly 9-10 pages), on a topic of your choosing.
Papers turned in after the deadline will be marked down. The papers are each worth 40% of your final grade, and participation will be worth 20%.
Tentative Schedule
September
4: Welcome and Introduction; background: Frege and Russell; Tractatus Logico- Philosophicus 2
11: Cora Diamond, “The Tractatus and the Limits of Sense” [Blackboard]; Michael Kremer, “The Purpose of Tractarian Nonsense” [Blackboard]
18: Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations (§§ 138-194)
25: Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations (§§ 195-315)
October
2: No class [srg at berkeley]
9: Saul Kripke, Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language (chs. 1-2)
16: Saul Kripke, Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language (ch. 3)
23: Meredith Williams, “Blind Obedience: Rules, Community, and the Individual” [Blackboard]; Charles Taylor, “To Follow a Rule” [Blackboard]
27: First paper due: in my mailbox, no later than noon
30: Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations (§§ 398-401; Part II, sec. xi)
November
6: Alasdair MacIntyre, “Colors, Cultures, Practices” [Blackboard]; Peter Winch, “Understanding a Primitive Society” [Blackboard]
13: Elizabeth Anscombe, Intention
20: Wittgenstein, On Certainty
27: No class: Thanksgiving
December
4: Michael Williams, “Why (Wittgensteinian) Contextualism is not Relativism” [Blackboard]; Duncan Pritchard, “Wittgenstein on Scepticism” [Blackboard]
11: Herbert McCabe, “The Logic of Mysticism” [Blackboard]; Genia Schonbaumsfeld, “A Confusion of the Spheres—Kierkegaard’s and Wittgenstein’s Conception of Religious Belief” [Blackboard]
18: Last class (Second paper due, at the beginning of class)