Was the later Wittgenstein a transcendental idealist?

Authors

Daniel D. Hutto, University of Hertfordshire

RIS ID

80824

Publication Details

Hutto, D. D. (1996). Was the later Wittgenstein a transcendental idealist?. In P. Coates and D. Hutto (Eds.), Current issues in idealism (pp. 121-153). Bristol, United Kingdom: Thoemmes Press.

Abstract

In his paper 'Wittgenstein and Idealism' Professor Bernard Williams proposed a 'model' for reading Wittgenstein's later philosophy which he claimed exposed its transcendental idealist character. By this he roughly meant that Wittgenstein's later position was idealistic to the extent that it disallowed the possibility of there being any independent reality that was not contaminated by our view of things. And he thought it was transcendental in the sense that 'our view of things' is not something that we can explain or can locate in the world.