RIS ID
76770
Abstract
Wittgenstein constantly invokes teaching, training and learning in his later work. It is there- fore interesting to consider what role these notions play for him there. I argue that their use is central to Wittgenstein’s attempt to refute cognitivist assumptions, and to show how norma- tive practices can be understood without the threat of circularity, grounded not in a kind of seeing, but in doing, and the natural reactions of an organism. This can generate a worry that Wittgenstein’s position is quietist and anti-critical: critique, as a challenge to the taken- for-granted grammar of our language game, is technically meaningless. I argue that Wittgenstein does not rule out critique. His own practice demonstrates that critique is possible, but takes place within a language game, and its status as critique is always subject to challenge in the agora of a discourse.
Publication Details
Simpson, D. I. (2014). Wittgenstein and stage-setting: being brought into the space of reasons. Educational Philosophy and Theory, vol,46, no.6, pp624-639.