Wittgenstein's Later Philosophy (Suny Studies in Logic and Language)

“Philosophy,” wrote Wittgenstein, “simply puts everything before us, and neither explains nor deduces anything.”

Hanfling takes seriously Wittgenstein’s declaration of what he was doing, emphasizing Wittgenstein’s rejection of theory and explanation in favor of ‘description alone.’ He demonstrates the importance of Wittgenstein’s philosophy to long-standing problems about language, knowledge, the mind, and philosophy itself. The book exposes common misunderstandings about Wittgenstein, and examines in detail the celebrated ‘private language’ argument.