Wittgenstein and the Social Sciences

Robert Vinten

Description

An examination of the relationship between Wittgenstein’s philosophy and the social sciences and its implications

In Wittgenstein and the Social Sciences, Robert Vinten takes a fresh look at the relationship between Wittgenstein’s philosophy and the social sciences. He argues that although social sciences are quite different to the natural sciences, they are nonetheless properly called ‘sciences’. The book looks in detail at whether Wittgenstein can be claimed by conservatives, liberals, or socialists as their own. Wittgenstein’s philosophical remarks and remarks about politics and culture are taken into account in deciding where to locate Wittgenstein in relation to various ideologies. In the final part of the book, Vinten considers how Wittgenstein’s philosophy can be of use in resolving or dissolving problems in the social sciences. Along the way, he critically assesses work from Perry Anderson, Terry Eagleton, Richard Rorty, and Chantal Mouffe in the light of Wittgenstein’s philosophical oeuvre. The book makes a compelling examination of how Wittgenstein’s work remains as relevant as ever to thinking about our cultural and political situation.

Acknowledgements; Introduction; Part 1 The Nature of Philosophy and of Social Science; 1. Is There Such a Thing as a Social Science?; 2. Wittgenstein and Relativism; Part 2 Does Wittgenstein’s Work Have Ideological Implications?; 3. Was Wittgenstein a Conservative Philosopher?; 4. Was Wittgenstein a Liberal Philosopher?; 5. Leave Everything as It Is; 6. Eagleton’s Wittgenstein; Part 3 Applying Wittgenstein’s Work to Problems in Social Philosophy; 7. Wittgenstein and Freedom of the Will; 8. Wittgenstein and Justice; Bibliography; Index.

Sujets

• POLITICAL SCIENCE
• PHILOSOPHY
• Philosophie et théologie
• General officer
• Ideology
• Politics
• General

Informations

• Publié par: Anthem Press
• Date de parution: 27 juillet 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781785273131
• Langue: English

Extrait

Wittgenstein and the Social Sciences
ANTHEM STUDIES IN WITTGENSTEIN
Anthem Studies in Wittgenstein publishes new and classic works on Wittgenstein and Wittgensteinian philosophy. This book series aims to bring Wittgenstein’s thought into the mainstream by highlighting its relevance to twenty-first-century concerns. Titles include original monographs, themed edited volumes, forgotten classics, biographical works, and books intended to introduce Wittgenstein to the general public. The series is published in association with the British Wittgenstein Society.
Anthem Studies in Wittgenstein sets out to put in place whatever measures may emerge as necessary in order to carry out the editorial selection process purely on merit and to counter bias on the basis of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and other characteristics protected by law. These measures include subscribing to the British Philosophical Association/Society for Women in Philosophy (UK) Good Practice Scheme.
Series Editor
Constantine Sandis – University of Hertfordshire, UK
Wittgenstein and the Social Sciences
Action, Ideology, and Justice
Robert Vinten
Anthem Press
An imprint of Wimbledon Publishing Company
www.anthempress.com
This edition first published in UK and USA 2020
by ANTHEM PRESS
75–76 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8HA, UK
or PO Box 9779, London SW19 7ZG, UK
and
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Copyright © Robert Vinten 2020
The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020940392
ISBN-13: 978-1-78527-311-7 (Hbk)
ISBN-10: 1-78527-311-6 (Hbk)

This title is also available as an e-book.
This book is dedicated to the memory of a former supervisor of mine, Bob Arrington, who sadly died in 2015. My discussions with him have had an enormous influence on the way that I think about philosophy.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part 1 The Nature of Philosophy and of Social Science
1. Is There Such a Thing as a Social Science?
2. Wittgenstein and Relativism
Part 2 Does Wittgenstein’s Work Have Ideological Implications?
3. Was Wittgenstein a Conservative Philosopher?
4. Was Wittgenstein a Liberal Philosopher?
5. Leave Everything as It Is
6. Eagleton’s Wittgenstein
Part 3 Applying Wittgenstein’s Work to Problems in Social Philosophy
7. Wittgenstein and Freedom of the Will
8. Wittgenstein and Justice
Bibliography
Index
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia 1 for their financial support throughout my PhD in Lisbon as well as for my postdoctoral work there. They also funded a visit to Argentina for me to present a paper in La Plata and in Córdoba during August and September of 2017 (‘Interpretaciones de Wittgenstein por marxistas ingleses: una crítica’). I would like to thank Andrés Oliva for translating that paper into Spanish. Material from the English version of that paper appears in this book in Chapters 5 and 6 . Pedro Karczmarczyk helped to arrange the trip and also arranged my accommodation (with the wonderful and kind Angélica Sangronis and Luis Alberto Pacheco). I am very grateful to him and to Angélica and Luis. It was Guadalupe Reinoso in Córdoba who arranged my talk there. I am grateful to her for arranging that and for showing me around the campus there. She was a fabulous host! The audiences who were present at my talks in La Plata and Córdoba also gave me valuable feedback on my work. I met a Spanish Wittgensteinian, Isabel Gamero, while I was in Argentina and I would like to thank her for stimulating discussion as well as for her help with practical matters in La Plata and Buenos Aires.
In Portugal I would like to thank Nuno Venturinha and Diogo Pires Aurélio, who were my advisors during my doctoral studies. Nuno, in particular, has been very helpful not only with advice about my philosophical work but also with administrative business in the university and outside of it. He helped to arrange for me to travel to Granada, Spain, to give a talk there (a paper about justice which appears, in slightly revised form, as Chapter 8 of this book), and has also invited me to speak at conferences at Universidade Nova de Lisboa.
I would like to thank the MLAG group at the Universidade do Porto for giving me the opportunity to present my paper about Wittgenstein and Freedom of the Will at their conference (the organisers of the conference were Anna Ciaunica, Sofia Miguens, João Alberto Pinto, José Pedro Correia, Diana Couto, and Luís Veríssimo). That paper has now become Chapter 7 of this book.
In Spain I would particularly like to thank Vicente Sanfélix Vidarte. He arranged for me to visit the Universitat de València to present a paper about Wittgenstein and Liberalism. That paper has since appeared in the Spanish journal Teorema (in English) in 2017 and in the Colombian journal Análisis (in Spanish) in 2018. I’m grateful to participants in the seminar in Valencia for their comments. Nicolas Sanchez Dura, in particular, was very involved in the discussion both during and after the talk. Carlota Sánchez Garcia translated my paper into Spanish before the talk so that those who wanted to read it in Spanish could read it. It is her translation that appeared in Análisis . I am very grateful to her. I am would also like to thank Simon Glendinning for comments on an earlier draft of that chapter as well as to two anonymous referees at the journal Teorema . A revised version of that paper appears within this book as Chapter 4 .
Various people have commented on my published work during the course of the past six years. I would like to thank participants in the Dimensões da Epistemologia conference, held at Universidade Nova de Lisboa on 6 September 2016, for their comments on an earlier draft of the first chapter of this book. Modesto Gómez-Alonso gave me very helpful comments after the event, which helped me in redrafting my work. I am grateful to Wayne Blackledge, António Caeiro, Philip Cartwright, Pedro Karczmarczyk, Gavin Kitching, Nigel Pleasants, Constantine Sandis, and George Wrisley for their comments on my papers ‘Leave Everything as it is’ and ‘Eagleton’s Wittgenstein’. Their comments on those papers prompted me to make changes to the criticisms that I made of Anderson, Callinicos, and Eagleton in Chapters 5 and 6 of this book. I would also like to thank participants at the MLAG conference in Porto for comments on an earlier version of Chapter 7 . Javier Cumpa, Manuel de Pinedo, Nils Kurbis, Carla Carmona, and Neftalí Villanueva all gave me very valuable feedback on an earlier draft of Chapter 8 at the University of Granada. At the same conference there was also a discussion of epistemic injustice (featuring Manuel Almagro, Carla Carmona, María José Frápolli, Alba Moreno, Llanos Navarro, Jesús Navarro, Eduardo Pérez, Nuno Venturinha, and Neftalí Villanueva) which was useful in thinking about the issues in Chapter 8 .
Constantine Sandis deserves special thanks as the editor of this series and also as someone who has produced great work in philosophy that has influenced my own. Constantine has read a lot of my work over the years and has given me sage advice.
I would like to thank my parents, Janet Szpakowski, Michael Szpakowski, and David Vinten for their support throughout the writing of this book (and for reading various parts of it). My brother and sister, Jack Vinten and Anna Szpakowska, have also been supportive and Jack has produced the cover for this book. I’m grateful to him for that.
Finally, I want to thank Gabriela Ferreira for her support as I have worked on this book. She has been incredible!

1 The Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), the Portuguese national funding agency. My PhD (2014–18) was funded by a PhD grant (SFRH/BD/94166/2013) and my current position as a research fellow is funded by the project Epistemology of Religious Belief: Wittgenstein, Grammar, and the Contemporary World (PTDC/FER-FIL/32203/2017).
INTRODUCTION
This book aims at exploring the implications of Wittgenstein’s philosophy for social philosophy and the social sciences. I should make clear at the outset that I will be particularly concerned with Wittgenstein’s later philosophical work – his work from the 1930s until his death in 1951. When I talk about ‘Wittgenstein’s philosophy’ I will primarily be talking about the mature philosophy of the Philosophical Investigations 1 and On Certainty 2 rather than his earlier work in the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus , 3 that he criticized in the later work. However, I will occasionally refer to his earlier work and note certain elements of continuity in Wittgenstein’s work.
According to Wittgenstein (throughout his career) philosophy is a discipline that is not based on