Philosophy 186B

Close reading and detailed discussion of central parts of Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations. Other works by Wittgenstein and some interpretative commentary will be consulted occasionally, but the emphasis throughout will be on reading and understanding this book. The book embodies a conception of philosophy as a certain kind of intellectual activity, so the course is likely to be of interest and value only to those willing to respond in open discussion to the problems and lines of thought presented there; those responses are themselves part of the “data” for philosophy. This requires active engagement in discussion in class and in weekly discussion-sections and in any other setting that presents itself. This is meant to be as much as possible a course in doing philosophy, not simply in studying or commenting on somebody else’s philosophy.