Wittgenstein and Value: The Quest for Meaning

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Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) was one of the most important and influential thinkers of the 20^th century. In Wittgenstein and Value, Eric B. Litwack attempts to clarify his many challenging ideas and arguments related to the notion of value and the implications of his work for debates in contemporary ethics, aesthetics and religious studies.

Litwack shows that Wittgenstein was engaged in a project of philosophical anthropology, which set him against some of the main currents of 20^th century intellectual life. The book explores the key notions in Wittgenstein's philosophy of mind and language and reveals how he developed a consistently expressionistic conception of value, in its many manifestations. Litwack also examines some of the key arguments of post-Wittgensteinian philosophers in the analytic Anglo-American tradition and explores the ways in which they have used Wittgenstein's arguments in addressing contemporary philosophical problems.

Reviews

A meaningful series of expositions of particular papers [...] The author is well-versed in the discussion [...] One cannot but recommend the new volume by Continuum Press to his colleagues.' -- Glombicek 'Human Affairs' 2010
... Litwack's substantial project is indeed worthwhile. For to anyone open at all to Wittgenstein's work, this book shows how his philosophical writings more generally offer a way of showing how our understanding of axiological concepts and evaluative judgements cannot be developed by building elaborate systems, by the use of reductive generalisations, or by any purely naturalistic explanation. -- Philosophical Investigations Volume 34 Issue 4
"The programme, or the agenda, which [this book] sketches deserves the attention of all of those interested in (moral) philosophy." - Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews -- Darlei Dall'Agnol * Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *

Author Bio

Eric B. Litwack is a philosopher in the faculty of Queen's University at Kingston's International Study Centre in East Sussex, UK.