Philosophy 4190F/5190F (Fall, 2010)
Wittgenstein
W 15:35-18:25
Killam 3616

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 Instructor: Dr. Michael Hymers
 Office: Rm 3129 FASS
 Telephone: 494-3548
 E-mail: Michael.Hymers@Dal.Ca

    This course will explore in detail the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein, beginning with an examination of his early classic, the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, and then moving through some of his transitional writings and lectures to his mature classic, the Philosophical Investigations, and his unfinished work in epistemology, On Certainty. Special attention will be given to Wittgenstein’s conception of the nature and task of philosophy, to the question of whether this conception is plausible, and to the question of whether it can claim complete generality. A class will also be devoted to examining in brief some of Wittgenstein’s philosophy of mathematics, and brief attention will also be given to the significance of Wittgenstein’s work for moral and political philosophy and to the contrasts and comparisons to be drawn between Wittgenstein and Quine.

Texts:

Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, translated by C. K. Ogden (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1922) [The Pears and McGuiness translation will do, but I prefer the Ogden.]
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, 3rd ed., translated by G. E. M. Anscombe (Oxford: Blackwell, 1968)
Ludwig Wittgenstein, On Certainty, translated by Denis Paul and G. E. M. Anscombe (New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1972). [N.B. The edition at the Dal Bookstore is expensive. A cheaper edition is readily available from on-line booksellers.]
Ludwig Wittgenstein, brief selections from transitional writings and lectures (to be made available).
Ludwig Wittgenstein, selections from Remarks on the Foundations of Mathematics (to be made available).
Ludwig Wittgenstein, "Remarks on Frazer's Golden Bough" (to be made available).
Michael Hymers, Wittgenstein and the Practice of Philosophy (Peterborough: Broadview, 2010).

Other occasional secondary material.

Recommended Texts:

Ray Monk, Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius (London: Jonathan Cape, 1990).

Evaluation:

Six Short Assignments (500-1000 words), of which two (or one, depending on the number of students) will be presented orally: 60%

Final Paper: 5000-7000 words: 40%

Term-work will be assigned a numerical mark, which will be converted to a letter-grade at the end of the term. Although there is no discrete mark for attendance or participation, I assume that you will attend regularly and contribute to discussion. Failure to do so is liable to hurt your grade.

                                            Approximate Grading Scale

Grade

A+

A

A-

B+

B

B-

C+

C

C-

D

F

/100

100-90

89-85

84-80

79-77

76-73

72-70

69-67

66-63

62-60

59-50

49-0

 

           Late Work:       Late work will be penalized 5% per working day up to a maximum of seven days, after which it will not be accepted.


Plagiarism: Please go to <http://www.registrar.dal.ca/calendar/ug/UREG.htm> and click on <Intellectual Honesty>.

 

Plagiarism is a serious academic offence and will be dealt with severely in this course. "Severely" means severely. If I find evidence of plagiarism or other academic dishonesty on any of your papers,  I am required by the University to report it to the Academic Integrity Officer for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, who may then refer the matter to the Senate Discipline Committee, and I will do so. If that happens, I will not be allowed to discuss the matter with you, and you will not receive a mark for the work in question until after the evidence has been reviewed by the AIO and, if deemed necessary, a hearing of the Committee, to which you will be invited and given the chance to respond to the allegations.



OSAA Syllabus Statement on Accommodation:                              
                                                                       
Students may request accommodation as a result of barriers related to disability, religious obligation, or any characteristic under the Nova Scotia Human Rights Act. Students who require academic accommodation for either classroom participation or the writing of tests, quizzes and exams should make their request to the Office of Student Accessibility & Accommodation (OSAA) prior to or at the outset of each academic term (with the exception of X/Y courses).  Please see  <www.studentaccessibility.dal.ca> for more information and to obtain Form A: Request for Accommodation.

A note taker may be required to assist a classmate.  There is an honorarium of $75/course/term.  If you are interested, please contact OSAA at 494-2836 for more information.

Please note that your classroom may contain specialized accessible furniture and equipment.  It is important that these items remain in the classroom so that students who require their usage will be able to participate in the class.


 

Troubles?     If you are having problems with the course, please see me.



Tentative Schedule of Readings
(Readings with a ‘*’ beside them are in the course-binder for copying.
Readings with a ‘#’ beside them are available as electronic books or articles through the Killam Library)

Sept. 15
 Introduction–Background, Biography
Reading:
 -Hymers, Chapter 1
Recommended:
 -Monk, 3-61


Sept. 22
 The Early Wittgenstein I
Reading: -Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (as far as you can get)
-Hymers, Chapter 2 (as far as you can get)
Recommended: -*Black, A Companion to Wittgenstein's Tractatus, 190-194;
-*Nordmann, Wittgenstein's Tractatus: An Introduction, 30-41;
-#Fogelin, Wittgenstein, 39-53;
-Monk, 62-168
Question:
 Why can the “logic of the facts” (TLP §4.0312) not be represented? Is this view plausible? Why or why not?
Sept. 29
 The Early Wittgenstein II
Reading: -Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
-Hymers, Chapter 2
Recommended: -*Black, A Companion to Wittgenstein's Tractatus, 376-386;
-*Anscombe, An Introduction to  Wittgenstein's Tractatus, 161-173;
-*Diamond, "Throwing Away the Ladder ..." or #"Ethics, Imagination and the Method of Wittgenstein's Tractatus" in Crary and Read (eds.), The New Wittgenstein;
-#Hacker, "Was He Trying to Whistle It?" in Crary and Read (eds.), The New Wittgenstein;
-#Fogelin, Wittgenstein, 93-103;
-Monk, 169-254
Question: Can the apparent paradox of TLP §6.54 be resolved?
Oct. 6
 Transitional Writings and the Nature of Philosophy
Reading: -*Philosophical Remarks, §§225-237; §§1-9
-*“Yardstick and System of Propositions” (PR 317)
-*“Lecture on Ethics”
-*Wittgenstein’s Lectures Cambridge, 1930-32 (21-41)
-Philosophical Investigations, §§89-133; Pt.II, xii
-Hymers, Chapter 3
Recommended: -*Kenny, Wittgenstein, 120-138 (Ch7);
-#Ramsey, “Critical Notice of Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus,” Mind 32 (1923): 465-478;
-*Hymers, "Going Around the Vienna Circle: Wittgenstein and Verification," Philosophical Investigations 28, no.3 (2005), 205-234;
-Monk, 255-335
Question: Does science have any role to play in philosophy?
OR: Is work in philosophy work on oneself? (CV 16)
OR: Should philosophy "leave[ ] everything as it is?" (PI §124)
In each case: why or why not?

Oct. 13 Class Cancelled
Oct. 20 The Later Wittgenstein I: Naming, Atoms, and Language Games
Reading: -Philosophical Investigations, §§1-64
-Hymers, Chapter 4
Recommended: -Stern, Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations: An Introduction, Chapters 1, 4
-Monk, 336-430
Question: What's the point of the standard-metre example? (PI §50)
Oct. 27 The Later Wittgenstein II: Family Resemblances and Universals
Reading: -Philosophical Investigations, §§65-88
-Hymers, Chapter 4
-*Heyes, "'Back to the Rough Ground!': Wittgenstein, Essentialism, and Feminist Methods"
Recommended: -*Bambrough, “Universals and Family Resemblances”
Question: Does Wittgenstein succeed in dissolving traditional philosophical debates about essences and universals?
Nov.3 The Later Wittgenstein III: Rule-following and Understanding
Reading: -Philosophical Investigations, §§134-242; Pt. II, ii-iii, vi
-*Kripke, “On Rules and Private Language”
-Hymers, Chapter 5, 157-181
Recommended: -#Miller, Philosophy of Language, Chapters 5 and 6 [EXCELLENT SUMMARY OF THE VAST LITERATURE ON THIS TOPIC]
-Any of the essays in Rule-Following and Meaning, edited by Miller and Wright
-Stern, Chapter 6
Question: What is the point of the discussion of rule-following? Does that discussion succeed?
Nov.10 The Later Wittgenstein IV: Private Language and Self-knowledge
Reading: -Philosophical Investigations, §§243-315; Pt. II, iv-v, viii-x, xi (pp.220-229)
-Hymers, Chapter 5, 181-201                          
Recommended: -#Ayer, "Can There Be a Private Language?" Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supplementary Volume 28 (1954): 63-76;
-*Hacker, “Private Ostensive Definition” in Wittgenstein: Meaning and Mind, Part I
-#John V. Canfield, "Private Language: The Diary Case," Australasian Journal of Philosophy 79, no.3 (2001): 377-94.
Question: What is the argument of the diary example (PI §258)?
Nov.17 The Later Wittgenstein V: Psychological Phenomena
Reading: -Philosophical Investigations, §§316-693; Pt. II, i, vii, xi (pp.193-220), xiii-xiv
-*#Burns, “If a Lion Could Talk ...” Wittgenstein Studien, 1 (1)
Recommended: -Hacker, Wittgenstein: Meaning and Mind; Wittgenstein: Mind and Will (Blackwell, 1993 and 1996)
Question: "Is thinking a kind of speaking?" (PI §330)
OR:"We say a dog is afraid his master will beat him; but not, he is afraid his master will beat him to-morrow. Why not?" (PI §650; cf. Pt.II, §i)
Nov.24 The Later Wittgenstein VI: Mathematics
Reading: -*Selections from Remarks on the Foundations of Mathematics
-*Dummett, “Wittgenstein’s Philosophy of Mathematics” in Pitcher (ed.), 420-447
-*Stroud, “Wittgenstein and Logical Necessity” in Pitcher (ed.), 476-496
-*Hymers, “The Dignity of a Rule: Wittgenstein, Mathematical Norms,and Truth,” Dialogue 42 (2003): 419-446
Recommended: -Shanker, Wittgenstein and the Turning-Point in the Philosophy of Mathematics
Question: Is Wittgenstein what Dummett calls a “full-blooded conventionalist”?
OR: Is Wittgenstein a finitist?
Dec.1 The Later Wittgenstein VII: Knowledge
Reading: -On Certainty
-Hymers, Chapter 6
-*Moyal-Sharrock, "On Certainty and the Grammaticalization of Experience"
-*B. Williams, "Wittgenstein and Idealism"
Recommended: -*Anscombe, “The Question of Linguistic Idealism” in From Parmenides to Wittgenstein (Minneapolis: U. Minn. Press, 1981)
-#M. Williams, "Wittgenstein's Refutation of Idealism" in McManus (ed.), Wittgenstein and Scepticism
-*Hymers, "Internal Relations and Analyticity: Wittgenstein and Quine"
-Monk, 431-580
Question: Is there a "Third Wittgenstein," as Moyal Sharrock suggests? Why or why not?
OR: Is the later Wittgenstein a linguistic idealist? Why or why not?
OR: Is the later Wittgenstein a Quinean? Why or why not?
Dec. 8
(class added)
 Wittgenstein, Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Ethics, Religion, Etc.
Reading: -*“Remarks on Frazer’s Golden Bough”
-Hymers, Chapter 7
Recommended: -*Hymers, “Wittgenstein, Pessimism, and Politics,” The Dalhousie Review 80, no.2 (2000): 185-216;
-*Heyes, “‘Back to the Rough Ground!’: Wittgenstein, Essentialism, and Feminist Methods”
-*Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, Ch.3;
-*Tanesini, Wittgenstein: A Feminist Interpretation, Chapter 5, “Acknowledging Communities”;
-Any of the articles in The Grammar of Politics: Wittgenstein and Political Philosophy, edited by Heyes
Question: Is Wittgenstein’s later work inherently politically conservative?
OR: Adjudicate the dispute between Mouffe and Tanesini concerning Wittgenstein's importance for political philosophy.
OR: Is a belief in God compatible with Wittgenstein's later philosophy?

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