Preface

Summary

The Philosophical Investigations (1953) is one of the most revolutionary philosophical works ever written. It ploughs up the fields of philosophical thought on the nature of language and linguistic meaning, on the relation between language and reality, on metaphysics, on the relation between language and thinking, on the nature of the mind, on self-knowledge and knowledge of others, and on the nature of philosophy itself. On each subject, Wittgenstein dug down to the roots of our reflections, exposing our tacit, often mistaken, presuppositions.

Wittgenstein wrote the Investigations in a laid-back colloquial style. It is easy to see what he says. On the other hand, it is difficult to understand why he says what he says. It is also easy to misinterpret what he wrote and to ascribe to him views that he did not hold. It is not surprising that misinterpretations of Wittgenstein's ideas are common among twenty-first century philosophers, who are more eager to dismiss his views than to understand what they are.

Having spent more than 25 years working intensively on Wittgenstein's philosophy in general, and on the Investigations in particular, and reaching the end of my long career of teaching and writing philosophy, it seemed to me that I was at long last ready to publish a beginner's guide to some of the central themes in his masterpiece. What I present here is not a textbook. It does not examine the multitudinous interpretations of Wittgenstein (I have done that in great detail in a dozen other books), although widespread criticisms of Wittgenstein are examined and refuted. It does not attempt to examine all the major themes in the Investigations – but only those that, in my judgement, are the most likely to interest beginners. So, for example, I have not discussed Wittgenstein's important scrutiny of the concept of following a rule, for that is too difficult and unlikely to excite the imaginations of those I wish to guide around select landmarks in his book. What I have written is directed at open-minded readers, who know no philosophy but who are willing to grapple with Wittgenstein's radical arguments in order to gain insight into subjects that are of concern to any thinking person.