Wittgenstein, Science and the Social Sciences

In Ann Chinnery, Nuraan Davids, Naomi Hodgson, Kai Horsthemke, Viktor Johansson, Dirk Willem Postma, Claudia W. Ruitenberg, Paul Smeyers, Christiane Thompson, Joris Vlieghe, Hanan Alexander, Joop Berding, Charles Bingham, Michael Bonnett, David Bridges, Malte Brinkmann, Brian A. Brown, Carsten Bünger, Nicholas C. Burbules, Rita Casale, M. Victoria Costa, Brian Coyne, Renato Huarte Cuéllar, Stefaan E. Cuypers, Johan Dahlbeck, Suzanne de Castell, Doret de Ruyter, Samantha Deane, Sarah J. DesRoches, Eduardo Duarte, Denise Egéa, Penny Enslin, Oren Ergas, Lynn Fendler, Sheron Fraser-Burgess, Norm Friesen, Amanda Fulford, Heather Greenhalgh-Spencer, Stefan Herbrechter, Chris Higgins, Pádraig Hogan, Katariina Holma, Liz Jackson, Ronald B. Jacobson, Jennifer Jenson, Kerstin Jergus, Clarence W. Joldersma, Mark E. Jonas, Zdenko Kodelja, Wendy Kohli, Anna Kouppanou, Heikki A. Kovalainen, Lesley Le Grange, David Lewin, Tyson E. Lewis, Gerard Lum, Niclas Månsson, Christopher Martin & Jan Masschelein (eds.), International Handbook of Philosophy of Education. Springer Verlag. pp. 443-455 (2018)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

It is generally agreed that a strong line of continuity in Wittgenstein’s writings, from the early Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus to the late Philosophical Investigations, is marked by his constant preoccupation with questions about language and meaning. Here I argue that another and equally important continuity lies in his attitude towards science, here understood as including logic, geometry and mathematics. His early work shows him deeply impressed by these disciplines, which in many ways supplied the model for his ideas about language and meaning. Later, he came to see that he had been ‘captured’ by these scientific ‘pictures’, and in numerous ways he set out to show that our thinking about how we understand the world, ourselves and each other and the degree of certainty that it is desirable and possible to achieve, can take many different forms. When the social sciences today are often denigrated for lacking the ‘rigour’ and certainty of the physical science, and when some social scientists respond by trying to borrow or imitate the methods of the physical sciences, Wittgenstein’s repudiation of the ‘picture’ of science and his welcoming of a broader conception of knowledge and understanding are of great value to educational researchers and social scientists of all kinds.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,616

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Social Science: City Center or Leafy Suburb.John Dupré - 2016 - Philosophy of the Social Sciences 46 (6):548-564.
For Science in the Social Sciences. [REVIEW]Fay Brian - 2006 - Philosophy of the Social Sciences 36 (2):227-240.
Wittgenstein on Physics.Chon Tejedor - 2019 - In A. C. Grayling, Shyam Wuppuluri, Christopher Norris, Nikolay Milkov, Oskari Kuusela, Danièle Moyal-Sharrock, Beth Savickey, Jonathan Beale, Duncan Pritchard, Annalisa Coliva, Jakub Mácha, David R. Cerbone, Paul Horwich, Michael Nedo, Gregory Landini, Pascal Zambito, Yoshihiro Maruyama, Chon Tejedor, Susan G. Sterrett, Carlo Penco, Susan Edwards-Mckie, Lars Hertzberg, Edward Witherspoon, Michel ter Hark, Paul F. Snowdon, Rupert Read, Nana Last, Ilse Somavilla & Freeman Dyson (eds.), Wittgensteinian : Looking at the World From the Viewpoint of Wittgenstein’s Philosophy. Springer Verlag. pp. 275-287.
Wittgenstein on Physics.Chon Tejedor - 2019 - In Shyam Wuppuluri & Newton da Costa (eds.), Wittgensteinian : Looking at the World From the Viewpoint of Wittgenstein's Philosophy. Springer Verlag. pp. 275-287.
Winch, Wittgenstein and the Idea of a critical social theory.Nigel Pleasants - 2000 - History of the Human Sciences 13 (1):78-91.
Wittgenstein and spengler vis-à-vis Frazer.Aydan Turanli - 2005 - Philosophy and Social Criticism 31 (1):69-88.

Analytics

Added to PP
2020-06-17

Downloads
4 (#1,426,245)

6 months
1 (#1,040,386)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references