The concept of practice in Wittgenstein's later philosophy
Inquiry 31 (3):357 – 369 (1988)
| Abstract | It is argued in this article that the concept of practice is one of the key concepts in Wittgenstein's later philosophy. It partly replaces his earlier talk about the inexpressible. ?The practice has to speak for itself, as Wittgenstein succinctly puts it. The concept of practice not only points to the ways in which the unity of our concepts are underpinned, as Gordon Baker has it, it also comprises the skills involved in handling the conceptualized phenomena, our prereflective familiarity with them, expressed in the sureness in our behaviour towards them, and the judgmental power exercised in applying or withholding a given concept on a particular occasion. These factors are all relevant to the establishment of knowledge, but they cannot themselves be fully and straightforwardly articulated by verbal means. Nevertheless, they represent what we go by when we apply concepts and other types of rules. To follow a rule is what Wittgenstein calls a practice. The sketched analysis of this concept makes us understand better how it is possible to apply a rule without the support of another rule. It also makes us realize in what sense one is justified in talking about tacit knowledge in connection with the application of concepts and rule?following in general. Quite a lot hangs on seeing the world aright at this point | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,875 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesKristijan Krkac (2003). Smells Like Pragmatism: Wittgenstein's Anti-Sceptical Weapons. Prolegomena 2 (1):41-60.
Adam M. Croom (2012). Aesthetic Concepts, Perceptual Learning, and Linguistic Enculturation: Considerations From Wittgenstein, Language, and Music. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science 46 (1):90-117.
A. B. Levison (1964). Wittgenstein and Logical Necessity. Inquiry 7 (1-4):367-373.
David H. Finkelstein (2000). Wittgenstein on Rules and Platonism. In Alice Crary & Rupert Read (eds.), The New Wittgenstein. Routledge.
Zhenhua Yu (2006). Tacit Knowledge. Tradition and Discovery 33 (3):9-25.
Mark McCullagh (2002). Wittgenstein on Rules and Practices. Journal of Philosophical Research 27:83-100.
Daniel Whiting (2010). Particular and General: Wittgenstein, Linguistic Rules, and Context. In Daniel Whiting (ed.), The Later Wittgenstein on Language. Palgrave Macmillan.
M. J. Cain (2006). Concept Nativism and the Rule Following Considerations. Acta Analytica 21 (38):77-101.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-30Total downloads39 ( #30,446 of 556,837 )Recent downloads (6 months)6 ( #13,107 of 556,837 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
