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Wittgenstein's Metaphysics

John W Cook author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:28th Jan '94

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Wittgenstein's Metaphysics cover

Wittgenstein's Metaphysics offers an interpretation of the fundamental ideas of Ludwig Wittgenstein. It takes issue with the conventional view that after 1930 Wittgenstein rejected the philosophy of the Tractatus and developed a wholly new conception of philosophy. By tracing the evolution of Wittgenstein's ideas Cook shows that they are neither as original nor as difficult as is often supposed. Wittgenstein was essentially an empiricist, and the difference between his early views (as set forth in the Tractatus) and the later views (as expounded in the Philosophical Investigations) lies chiefly in the fact that after 1930 he replaced his version of reductionism with something subtler. Nevertheless, he ended where he began, as an empiricist armed with a theory of meaning.

"This lucidly written book is single-mindedly devoted to exhibiting Wittgenstein's work as continuous development within traditional metaphysics....A special merit of the book is the presentation, in the Introduction, of these argued for, and the so-called myths which Cook argues against." Alice Ambrose, International Studies in Philosophy

ISBN: 9780521460194

Dimensions: 235mm x 159mm x 29mm

Weight: 713g

380 pages