Wittgenstein's Method

G.P. Baker was a Fellow of St John’s College, Oxford from 1967 until his death in 2002. He is the co-author with P.M.S. Hacker of a number of books on Wittgenstein, including the first two volumes of the four-volume Analytical Commentary on the Philosophical Investigations (Blackwell Publishing 1980-1996), and with Katherine Morris of Descartes’ Dualism (1996). He also wrote numerous articles on Wittgenstein, Frege, Russell, Waismann and Descartes. Katherine Morris is a Lecturer and Fellow at Mansfield College, Oxford University. She and G.P. Baker co-authored Descartes’ Dualism (1996). She has published a number of articles on Wittgenstein, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty and Descartes, and is the author of ‘Sartre’ (forthcoming from Blackwell Publishing).

Gordon Baker, together with P. M . S. Hacker, was instrumental in the elaboration of what has become the standard interpretation of Wittgenstein's later work. In a dramatic turnabout, in his later years, Baker came to the conclusion that that interpretation, which he had done so much to help consolidate, was fundamentally flawed, exegetically and philosophically. He embarked on the task of putting forward a radically new interpretation of Wittgenstein's later philosophy -- an interpretation which has seemed to some to be a perverse dismantling of his life's work, while seeming to others, myself included, to open up exciting new possibilities and to help put us in a position to better understand what Wittgenstein was really up to. Baker was in the midst of developing this new interpretation in a series of articles, when his tragic early death brought the project to an abrupt halt. This volume collects those articles. Any serious student of Wittgenstein's philosophy will want to own this book. James Conant, University of Chicago`The essays in this volume are replete with a wealth of historical and linguistic detail. They contain the combination of careful textual exegesis and rigorous analysis which was characteristic of Baker's work generally.' Dr Mark Addis, International Journal of Philosophical Studies (2005)

• Acknowledgements ix  Introduction by Katherine J. Morris 1Part I: Reading Wittgenstein 19A. Methodological Concepts: 211. Philosophical Investigations §122: Neglected Aspects 222. Some Remarks on ‘Language’ and ‘Grammar’ 523. Wittgenstein’s ‘Depth Grammar’ 734. Wittgenstein on Metaphysical/Everyday Use 92B. Applications: the ‘Private Language Argument': 1085. The Reception of the Private Language Argument 1096. Wittgenstein’s Method and the Private Language Argument 1197. The Private Language Argument (extract) 130Part II: Wittgenstein and Waismann: 141A. The Analogy with Psychoanalysis: 1438. ‘Our’ Method of Thinking about ‘Thinking’ 1449. A Vision of Philosophy 17910. Wittgenstein’s Method and Psychoanalysis 205B. Aspects and Conceptions: 22311. Italics in Wittgenstein 22412. Wittgenstein: Concepts or Conceptions? 26013. The Grammar of Aspects and Aspects of Grammar 279Bibliography of the Works of Gordon Baker 294General Bibliography 299Index 305