Wittgenstein: comparisons and context

This book is a collection of P.M.S. Hacker's papers on Wittgenstein and Wittgensteinian themes written over the last decade. It presents Hacker's own (Wittgensteinian) conception of philosophy, and defends it against criticisms. Two essays compare Wittgenstein with Kant on transcendental arguments, and offer a Wittgensteinian critique of Kant's transcendental deduction. Two further essays trace the development of Wittgenstein's philosophy of psychology, and examine his anthropological and ethnological approach to philosophical problems. This leads naturally to a synoptic comparison of Wittgenstein's later philosophy of language with formal, truth-conditional conceptions of language. A further two clarificatory essays follow these comparative ones: the first concerns Wittgenstein's conception of grammar, and his exclusion of theses, doctrines, dogmas, and opinions in philosophy; the second concerns his treatment of intentionality.

On method. Philosophy : a contribution not to human knowledge but to human understanding -- Comparisons and clarifications. Kant and Wittgenstein : the matter of transcendental arguments -- Kant's transcendental deduction : a Wittgensteinian critique -- The development of Wittgenstein's philosophy of psychology -- Wittgenstein's anthropological and ethnological approach -- Two conceptions of language -- Wittgenstein on grammar, theses, and dogmatism -- Intentionality and the harmony between thought and reality -- Context. Passing by the naturalistic turn : on Quine's cul-de-sac -- Analytic philosophy : what, whence, and whither?