Wittgenstein, Part I: Essays: Mind and Will: Volume 4 of an Analytical Commentary on the Philosophical Investigations / Edition 1

by P. M. S. Hacker

Overview

This fourth and final volume of the monumental commentary on Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations covers pp 428-693 of the book. Like the previous volumes, it consists of philosophical essays and exegesis.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780631219866
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	04/11/2000
Series:	Analytical Commentary on the Philosophical Investigations Series , #4
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.82(w) x 8.52(h) x 0.92(d)

About the Author

P. M. S. Hacker is Fellow of St. John's College, Oxford. He is author of Insight and Iffusion (1972, revised ed. 1986), Appearance and Reality (Blackwell, 1987) and Wittgenstein: Meaning and Mind (Blackwell, 1990). He edited The Renaissance of Gravure: The Art of S. W. Hayter (1988), Graure and Grace: the Engravings of Roger Vieillard (1993) and co-edited a Festschrift for H. L. A. Hart together with J. Raz. Law, Morality and Society (1977). He has written five books with G. P. Baker, Wittgenstein: Understanding and Meaning (Blackwell, 1980), Wittgenstein: Rules, Grammar and Necessity (Blackwell, 1985), Frege: Logical Excavations (Blackwell and Oxford University Press, New York, 1984), Language, Sense and Nonsense (Blackwell, 1984), and Scepticism, Rules and Language, (Blackwell, 1984).

Table of Contents

Note to the paperback edition ix

Acknowledgements xi

Preface xiv

Abbreviations xix

I Intentionality 1

II Inductive reasoning 49

III The arbitrariness of grammar and the bounds of sense 69

IV A note on negation 101

V Methodology in philosophical psychology 111

VI Memory and recognition 157

VII Willing and the nature of voluntary action 191

VIII Intending 239

IX The mythology of meaning something 261

Index 285

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Anyone reading Philosophical Investigations would do well to keep it by their side, not only for its authoritative commentary on particular passages, but also for Hacker's extremely illuminating essays on the themes of the last part of the book: one each on intentionality, induction, the arbitrariness of grammar, negation, methodology in philosophical psychology, memory and recognition the will, intention and the mythology of meaning." London Review of Books

"It is as good a commentary on the Investigations as seems humanly possible. This will reamin the definitive starting point for the forseeable future. Indeed, it must rank alongside the greatest contributions to philosophical scholarship (such as Ross on Aristotle or Vaihinger on Kant), since it combines, on a momentous scale, authoritative textual exegesis, philosophical insight, encyclopedic knowledge of the historical background and lucidity of expression. Hacker succeeds brilliantly in showing that these passages are essential to the discussion of language and linguistic meaning that is the leitmotif of the Investigations. The chapter on mental states and processes provides an excellent interpretation and defence of Wittgenstein's approach to philosophical psychology, in particular of his denial that our psychological concepts constitute a 'folk psychology' that must be replaced by a more scientific alternative. Similarly, the chapter on will is the most authoritative discussion yet of Wittgenstein's fiendishly difficult treatment of that topic." Hans-Johann Glock, Times Higher Education Supplement

Editorial Reviews

"Anyone reading Philosophical Investigations would do well to keep it by their side, not only for its authoritative commentary on particular passages, but also for Hacker's extremely illuminating essays on the themes of the last part of the book: one each on intentionality, induction, the arbitrariness of grammar, negation, methodology in philosophical psychology, memory and recognition the will, intention and the mythology of meaning." London Review of Books

"It is as good a commentary on the Investigations as seems humanly possible. This will reamin the definitive starting point for the forseeable future. Indeed, it must rank alongside the greatest contributions to philosophical scholarship (such as Ross on Aristotle or Vaihinger on Kant), since it combines, on a momentous scale, authoritative textual exegesis, philosophical insight, encyclopedic knowledge of the historical background and lucidity of expression. Hacker succeeds brilliantly in showing that these passages are essential to the discussion of language and linguistic meaning that is the leitmotif of the Investigations. The chapter on mental states and processes provides an excellent interpretation and defence of Wittgenstein's approach to philosophical psychology, in particular of his denial that our psychological concepts constitute a 'folk psychology' that must be replaced by a more scientific alternative. Similarly, the chapter on will is the most authoritative discussion yet of Wittgenstein's fiendishly difficult treatment of that topic." Hans-Johann Glock, Times Higher Education Supplement

From the Publisher