Problems of Interpretive Authority in Wittgenstein’s Corpus

Abstract

The present study of Wittgenstein begins with texts. Wittgenstein’s first wave of influence in philosophical circles was through his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, but during his philosophical career from 1929 to his death in 1951, a second wave of influence came through his teaching, conversation, and charismatic philosophical persona. During this time he scrupulously composed and revised numerous manuscripts, typescripts, and diaries; none of these texts ultimately achieved sufficient clarity to satisfy Wittgenstein’s powerful selfcriticism. Yet after his death, these texts have slowly been prepared for publication and have been issued to a larger reading philosophical public, thus instigating a third wave of influence (Kenny, 2006, pp. 382–96). Effects from these three waves continued to affect philosophers through the middle decades of the twentieth century; yet, as the first two waves have receded into history, the third wave (increasing progressively in its volume as further texts from Wittgenstein’s corpus have become more widely available and easier to access) defines the presence of Wittgenstein in philosophy today, supplemented by biographical and historical scholarship on the development and interpretation of Wittgenstein’s corpus. Secondary research on how to read Wittgenstein continues to be a vibrant area of philosophical work relating to Wittgenstein; hermeneutical work is enriching much of philosophy beyond the writings of Wittgenstein and is aiding analytic philosophers in approaching difficult and problematic texts as well as historical texts and issues. The present book is situated within this body of hermeneutical work.KeywordsReligious BeliefPhilosophical InvestigationVienna CircleReligious PhenomenonAbsolute GoodThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.