Wittgenstein, Mind and Meaning: Towards a Social Conception of Mind

by Meredith Williams

Overview

Wittgenstein, Mind and Meaning offers a provocative re-reading of Wittgenstein's later writings on language and mind, and explores the tensions between Wittgenstein's ideas and contemporary cognitivist conceptions of the mental. This book addresses both Wittgenstein's later works as well as contemporary issues in philosophy of mind. It provides fresh insight into the later Wittgenstein and raises vital questions about the foundations of cognitivism and its wider implications for psychology and cognitive science.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781134658732
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	01/31/2002
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
File size:	478 KB

About the Author

Meredith Williams is Professor of Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University.

Table of Contents

Introduction. Part 1. Against the philosophic tradition 1. Wittgenstein on representations, privileged objects, and private languages 2. Private states and public practices: Wittgenstein and Schutz on intentionalty 3. Wittgenstein, Kant, and the "metaphysics of experience" 4. Language learning and the representational theory of mind Postscript to Chapter 4 5.Social norms and narrow content Part 2. A new direction 6. Rules, community, and the individual 7. The philosophical significance of learning in the later Wittgenstein 8. The etiology of the obvious:Wittgenstein and the elimination of indeterminacy 9.Wittgenstein's rejection of scientific psychology 10. Vygotsky's social theory of mind notes bibliography index of quotations index

Editorial Reviews

...represents one of the most subtle and sustained developments available of the communitarian or social reading of Wittgenstein's later work.

Mind

a remarkably clear and immensely rewarding book.

Philosophical Investigations

Williams' engagement with various themes in Wittgenstein's later writings is highly original, and her arguments should stimulate all of us who work in these areas of inquiry. This is a truly superb contribution to current philosophical debates.

Jeff Coulter

sacrifices nothing in terms of rigour or sensitivity to textual detail, but manages to turn the discussion in such a way that issues of real significance are once again on the philosophical agenda.

David Bloor

'Wittgenstein, Mind and Meaning represents one of the most subtle and sustained developments available of the communitarian or social reading of Wittgenstein's later work.'
- Mind

'A remarkably clear and immensely rewarding book.'
- Philosophical Investigations

'Wittgenstein, Mind and Meaning represents one of the most subtle and sustained developments available of the communitarian or social reading of Wittgenstein's later work.'
- Mind

'A remarkably clear and immensely rewarding book.'
- Philosophical Investigations

From the Publisher