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Print Price: $13.50

Format:
Paperback
160 pp.
halftones and drawings, 111 mm x 174 mm

ISBN-13:
9780192854117

Publication date:
February 2001

Imprint: OUP UK

Wittgenstein: A Very Short Introduction

A. C. Grayling

Series : Very Short Introductions

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) was an extraordinarily original philospher, whose influence on twentieth-century thinking goes well beyond philosophy itself. In this book, which aims to make Wittgenstein's thought accessible to the general non-specialist reader, A. C. Grayling explains the nature and impact of Wittgenstein's views. He describes both his early and later philosophy, the differences and connections between them, and gives a fresh assessment of Wittgenstein's continuing influence on contemporary thought.

Readership : General readers interested in Wittgenstein and contemporary philosophy more generally; students of philosophy, and other fields Wittgenstein's work has influenced, such as literature, linguistics, anthropology, psychology, and sociology.

Reviews

`Lucidly and attractively written.'
Heythrop Journal
`Anyone wanting to come to grips with the later Wittgenstein's views on philosophy, his beliefs about the nature of thought and language, and his many unignorable (if sometimes muddled and often muddling) ideas in the philosophy of the mind could do no better than start here.'
Guardian
`[Grayling] is to be congratulated on the success of his enterprise in a book which is a model of expository elgance ... an admirably clear and concise introduction'
Philosophical Books

1. Life and character
The early philosophy
2. Aims and background
3. The argument of the Tractatus
4. Some comments and questions
5. The influence of the early philosophy
The later philosophy
6. The transitional period
7. Method, meaning, and use
8. Understanding and rule following
9. 'Forms of life', private language, and criteria
10. Mind and knowledge
11. Some reflections and comments
12. Wittgenstein and recent philosophy
Further reading
Index

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A. C. Grayling is Reader in Philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London, and Sumernumary Fellow at St Anne's College, Oxford. He is the author of An Introduction to Philosophical Logic, the Refutation of Scepticism, and Berkeley: The central arguments, and editor of Philosophy: A guide through the subject and Philosophy 2: Further through the subject.

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Special Features

Wittgenstein is probably the philosopher whom general readers are most interested in
His work revolutionized philosophy in the twentieth century, and has given rise to many new developments in the philosophy of language, logic, and philosophy of mind
He has also influenced fields outside philosophy, including literature, linguistics, anthropology, psychology, and sociology. This is the ideal book for people in these fields who need to know more about his views.
A. C. Grayling writes very accessibly for non-specialists -- apart from writing books on philosophy, he has columns in the Guardian and Independent
First published in the Past Masters series, where it has sold over 20,000 copies