Wittgenstein and Pragmatism, 1st ed. 2016
On Certainty in the Light of Peirce and James
History of Analytic Philosophy Series

This book investigates the conflicts concerning pragmatism in

Wittgenstein?s work On Certainty, through a comparison with the

pragmatist tradition as expressed by its founding fathers Charles S. Peirce

and William James. It also describes Wittgenstein?s first encounters with

pragmatism in the 1930s and shows the relevance of Frank Ramsey in the

examination the author discusses issues such as doubt, certainty, common

sense, forms of life, action and the pragmatic maxim. While highlighting

the objective convergences and divergences between the two approaches,

the volume makes links to ongoing debates on relativism, foundationalism,

perspectives on Wittgenstein?s philosophy.

Foreword

Acknowledgments

1.1 Preliminary remarks

1.4 Wittgenstein reader of James

1.6 Other references to pragmatism before On Certainty

2.1 Preliminary remarks

2.3 Skepticism and fallibilism

2.4 Wittgenstein’s ‘hinges’

2.5 Peirce’s ‘indubitables’ and ‘regulative assumptions’

2.6 Concluding remarks

Chapter 3. Common sense and Weltbild

3.1 Preliminary remarks

3.2 Peirce’s critical common sensism and James’ ‘mother-tongue of thought’

3.3 Wittgenstein’s Weltbild

3.4 Outlines for a comparison

3.5 Concluding remarks

Chapter 4. Action and the pragmatic maxim

4.1 Preliminary remarks

4.2 The pragmatic maxim

4.3 Perception and conduct, truth and belief

4.4 Meaning and consequences: the ‘Pragmatist Week’

4.5 Meaning and understanding

4.6 ‘Im Anfang war die Tat’

4.7 Action and its surroundings

5.1 Preliminary remarks

5.3 Secondary literature: relativism and other issues

5.5 Background and foreground

6.1 Preliminary remarks

6.3 Beyond method

6.4 Synoptic presentation and Weltanschauung

6.5 The river and the river-bed

6.6. Science and philosophy

6.7 Concluding remarks

Conclusion. ‘I’ll teach you differences’

Bibliography

Index

Anna Boncompagni (University of California, Irvine) works mainly on Wittgenstein’s later philosophy and on pragmatism, and is also interested in phenomenology, the history of analytic philosophy, and the philosophy of psychiatry. Her previous publications include “Elucidating Forms of Life: The Evolution of a Philosophical Tool”, Nordic Wittgenstein Review (2015) and Wittgenstein: Lo Sguardo e il Limite (2012).

Uncovers the alleged pragmatist side of Wittgenstein’s later philosophy

Explores doubt, certainty, common sense, forms of life, action and the pragmatic maxim

Describes the relevance of Frank Ramsey in the development of Wittgenstein’s thought