The fate of wonder : Wittgenstein's critique of metaphysics and modernity

273 Pages·2011·2.155 MB·English

by  Wittgenstein, Ludwig, Wittgenstein, Ludwig, Cahill, Kevin M

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cahill Cahill, The Fate of Wonder
Kevin M. Cahill reclaims one of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s
Contact: Lisa Hamm
most passionately pursued endeavors: to reawaken a Columbia University Press
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Praise for the sense of wonder around human life and language and its
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ISBN: 978-0-231-15800-8 Press he forms his own innovative, analytical methods, joining
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the
Fate
oF
Wonder
d

the
Fate

oF
Wonder
Wittgenstein’s Critique
of Metaphysics
and Modernity
R
Kevin M. Cahill
Columbia University Press
New York
columbia university press
Publishers Since 1893
new York Chichester, West Sussex
Copyright © 2011 Columbia University Press
all rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data
Cahill, Kevin (Kevin M.)
The Fate of Wonder : Wittgenstein’s critique of metaphysics and modernity /
Kevin M. Cahill.
p. cm. — (Columbia themes in philosophy)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBn 978-0-231-15800-8 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBn 978-0-231-52811-5 (e-book)
1. Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 1889–1951. I. title.
B3376.W564C32 2011
192—dc22 2011005422
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent
and durable acid-free paper.
This book is printed on paper with recycled content.
Printed in the United States of america
c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
references to Internet Web sites (UrLs) were accurate at the time of writing.
neither the author nor Columbia University Press is responsible for UrLs that
may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.
To my earliest fellows in wonder,
my pals from St. Gabriel Parish, San Francisco,
wherever they may be
d

Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
I.1. Background to the central questions and claims 1
I.2. Methodological Issues a: resolute and therapeutic readings; “early”
and “later” Wittgenstein; the “constancy” of Wittgenstein’s cultural views;
the scope of the book; a point about heidegger; a point about
Charles taylor 5
I.3. Methodological Issues B: on the use of the Nachlass and other “nontext”
sources for interpreting Wittgenstein 10
I.4. overview of the book 12
Part I
1. Interpreting the Tractatus 19
1.1. The problem of ethics and nonsense in the Tractatus 19
1.2. The “ineffabilist” reading of the Tractatus 21
1.3. Schopenhauer and the ineffabilist reading 26
1.4. diamond and Conant’s resolute reading of the Tractatus 30
1.5. “Intention and ethics”: early Wittgenstein and the logical positivists
on the nature of ethical utterances 36