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Introduction

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The Later Wittgenstein and Moral Philosophy

Part of the book series: Nordic Wittgenstein Studies ((NRWS,volume 4))

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Abstract

The overall aim of this book is to show that Wittgenstein’s later methods can fruitfully be applied to several problems in moral philosophy. That may seem to be a strange claim, because Wittgenstein’s contribution to the discipline of philosophy is most often situated in logic, the philosophy of language, the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of mathematics. Why then think that his thought is relevant for moral philosophy? In Sect. 1.1, I will argue that Wittgenstein’s explicitly stated ethical views are so short and scarce that they can hardly be regarded as constituting, in themselves, a significant contribution to moral philosophy. However, that does not mean that his ethical remarks are philosophically irrelevant. I will contend in Sect. 1.2 that Wittgenstein’s later philosophy can serve as a toolbox with the help of which some of Wittgenstein’s ethical views can be elucidated. Section 1.3 is devoted to showing that insights from Wittgenstein’s later philosophy can also be applied to problems in moral philosophy that have no obvious link with Wittgenstein’s ethical views. In Sect. 1.4, I present an overview of the different articles in this book with particular attention to the overall structure, the ways in which the chapters are linked and their Wittgensteinian character.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Books that explore themes related to those treated here include (but are not limited to) Barrett (1991); Cavell (1999); Crary (2007a, b, 2016); Diamond (1991); Edwards (1982); Gaita (2002, 2004); Hermann (2015); Iczkovits (2012); Johnston (1989, 1999); Litwack (2009); Lovibond (1983, 2002); O’Connor (2008); O’Hara (2018); Rhees (1969, 1999); Tilghman (1991); Winch (1972, 1987); Wisnewski (2007). There are two journal special issues that focus on Wittgenstein’s views on ethics and on Wittgensteinian ethics (Gleeson 2002; De Mesel and Thompson 2015). Recent collections of articles on Wittgenstein and moral philosophy are Agam-Segal and Dain (2018); Kuusela and De Mesel (forthcoming).

  2. 2.

    I will use ‘ethics’ and ‘moral philosophy ’, ‘ethical’ and ‘moral’ interchangeably.

  3. 3.

    When a reference is to a numbered remark, this is indicated by ‘§’; otherwise reference is to a page.

  4. 4.

    These explanation are discussed in Barrett (1991: Chapter 12).

  5. 5.

    For a good overview of the authors and claims associated with the resolute reading, see Bronzo (2012).

  6. 6.

    Glock refers to some more charitable assessments of Wittgenstein’s ethical views: see DeAngelis (2007); Klagge (2011); Lurie (2012); Szabados (2010).

  7. 7.

    I would like to thank Lorenz Demey for drawing my attention to Gentner’s paper.

  8. 8.

    I agree on this point with Baker (2004a: 36). A contrast or tension between the positive and negative tasks of the Wittgensteinian philosopher is suggested, for instance, by Hacker (1996: 111, 2001: 333, 338) and Kenny (1982: 38–39, 42–43, 2004: 175).

  9. 9.

    See, in that respect, the section on ‘Diamond’s Dogmatism ’ in Moyal-Sharrock (2012: 238–239). I came across Moyal-Sharrock’s article after the publication of Chap. 4. There are important affinities between the two articles, and I believe that the fact that we have independently arrived at similar conclusions speaks in favour of them.

  10. 10.

    Glock distinguishes a tradition from a school, the latter being ‘a tightly knit group based on relatively intimate personal contact and a direct transfer of certain doctrines or methods ’ (Glock 2008: 220).

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  1. KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Benjamin De Mesel

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De Mesel, B. (2018). Introduction. In: The Later Wittgenstein and Moral Philosophy. Nordic Wittgenstein Studies, vol 4. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97619-8_1

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