Introduction

Abstract

Peter Guy Winch (1926–1997) was one of the most important philosophers of the second half of the twentieth Century. He is best-known for his early work on the philosophy of the social sciences, in particular his monograph On the Idea of a Social Science and its Relation to Philosophy (ISS) (Winch 1958/1990), which generated controversy within both philosophical and social scientific circles. In that work and subsequent publications Winch argued against the presupposition that social relations could be understood using only the conceptual tools of the natural sciences. Winch would later come to regret the reputation ISS garnered him, which was a mixture of roughly equal degrees fame and infamy. In part this regret stemmed from the (as it seemed to him) uncharitable light in which ISS was read by its many critics. In part also it was because that book overshadowed all of his subsequent work. Alongside his writings on the philosophy of the social sciences, his interests ranged widely. Winch was an important interpreter and translator of Wittgenstein (Winch 1969), and together with Rush Rhees was an instrumental figure in the development of the so-called ‘Swansea School’ of Wittgenstein interpretation. He also published a groundbreaking study of the philosophy of Simone Weil, entitled Simone Weil: The Just Balance (Winch 1989). In his critical review of that work, Rowan Williams praised Winch for “writing a book whose main purpose is to make us think with Weil, and in so doing recognise her as a philosopher.” Alongside these interests, Winch also published numerous essays in areas including ethics, political philosophy, the philosophy of religion and philosophical logic, most of which are collected together in two volumes of essays published during his lifetime, Ethics and Action (1972) and Trying to Make Sense (1987). At his death, he was turning his attention to a book manuscript on the problem of political authority.