Individualism is seen as a central component of moder- nity. (Individualism is, in Charles Taylor’s view for ex- ample, the most beautiful achievement of modernity.) From an apologetic perspective, individualism corresponds to an objective, real need of self-achievement; it repre- sents an essential step towards emancipation. This paper does not aim at contending with this description of the concept of individualism, because to do so would mean suggesting an alternative ideology, but instead it aims at understanding the real grounds of (...) the development of individualism in order to correct the “propagandistic” image of modern individualism. The main arguments which are used to correct this image are that individualism is the expression of a certain crisis of the spirit, not of a prosperity of the spirit, and the resources of its vindication are in fact “intellectual fabrications,” myths rather than objective discoveries. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to investigate the preconditions and the limits of rational reconstruction in the philosophy of language, as these preconditions and limits can be deduced from Wittgenstein’s arguments against philosophical constructivism. It will be shown that a main precondition of reconstructions in the field of language is the existence of non-arbitrary patterns of linguistic use, while the limits of this kind of theoretical enterprise derive precisely from the absence of such patterns.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the preconditions and the limits of rational reconstruction in the philosophy of language, as these preconditions and limits can be deduced from Wittgenstein’s arguments against philosophical constructivism. It will be shown that a main precondition of reconstructions in the field of language is the existence of non-arbitrary patterns of linguistic use, while the limits of this kind of theoretical enterprise derive precisely from the absence of such patterns.