Description
Book Synopsis* Provides unique survey of analytic philosophy* Authoritative assessment of Wittgenstein, his achievements and influence* The culmination of 20 years of scholarship* The epilogue. .
Trade Review"A mojor contribution to the history of analytic philosophy, this substantial volume delivers even more than the title promises"
David G Stern, The Philosophical ReviewTable of ContentsPreface ix
Acknowledgements xii
List of Abbreviations xiv
Chapter 1 The Background 1
1 The origins of analytic philosophy 1
2 The problem-setting context of the Tractatus 12
Chapter 2 The Achievement of the Tractatus 22
1 Unquestioned legacy 22
2 Criticisms of Frege and Russell 26
3 The metaphysical picture of the relation of thought, language and reality 29
4 The positive account of the propositions of logic 32
5 The critique of metaphysics and the conception of future philosophy as analysis 35
Chapter 3 The Impact of the Tractatus: The Vienna Circle 39
1 The Vienna Circle 39
2 Philosophy, analysis, and the scientific world-view 42
3 The demolition of metaphysics 44
4 Necessary propositions, conventionalism and consistent empiricism 45
5 The principle of verification 50
6 The unity of science 59
Chapter 4 The Inter-war Years: Cambridge and Oxford 67
1 Cambridge between the wars 67
2 Wittgenstein in Cambridge 76
3 Oxford between the wars 87
Chapter 5 The Achievement of the Investigations 97
1 The hedgehog and the fox 97
2 The repudiation of analysis 103
3 The nature of philosophy 110
4 Metaphysics 117
5 Philosophy of language and the unity of the Investigations 123
6 Philosophical psychology 130
Chapter 6 Wittgenstein’s Impact upon Post-war Analytic Philosophy 137
1 Publications and pupils 138
2 Philosophy at Oxford, 1945-70 148
3 Wittgenstein and post-war philosophy at Oxford 162
Chapter 7 Post-positivism in the United States and Quine’s Apostasy 183
1 The logical positivists in America 183
2 Quine and Wittgenstein: similarity amidst differences 189
3 Quine and logical empiricism: the end of analytic philosophy? 193
4 Quine’s progress 196
5 Quine and Wittgenstein: differences beneath similarities 207
Chapter 8 The decline of Analytic Philosophy 228
1 The critical backlash 228
2 Criticisms of Wittgenstein 239
3 The aftermath 264
Notes 274
Index 334
