An Analytical Commentary on the Philosophical Investigations, Volume 1: Wittgenstein: Understanding and Meaning, Part I: Essays

An Analytic Commentary on the Philosophical Investigations #1.1

by Gordon P. Baker, P.M.S. Hacker

This is a much revised and extended new edition of "Part I" of the first volume of the monumental four-volume "Analytical Commentary on the Philosophical Investigations."Takes into account much new material that was unavailable when the first edition was writtenFollowing Baker's death in 2002, P.M.S. Hacker has rewritten many essays completely"Part I: Essays" now includes two completely new essays: 'Meaning and Use' and 'The Recantation of a Metaphysician'; the essays: 'The Augustinian Conception of Language', 'The Language-Game Method', 'Contextual Dicta and Contextual Principles', 'Philosophy', 'Surveyability and Surveyable Representations', and 'Truth and the General Propositional Form' are redrafted and expanded, incorporating new source materials and new arguments, as well as taking into account debates of the last quarter of a centuryThe accompanying "Part II: Exegesis 1-184" - has been thoroughly revised in the light of the electronic publication of Wittgenstein's "Nachlass," and includes many new interpretations of the remarks, a history of the composition of the "Philosophical Investigations" and an overview of its structure.The revisions will ensure that this remains the definitive reference work on Wittgenstein's masterpiece for the foreseeable future

Genres: Philosophy, Linguistics

424 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1980

About the author

Gordon Park Baker was an American-English philosopher. His topics of interest included Ludwig Wittgenstein, Gottlob Frege, Friedrich Waismann, Bertrand Russell, the Vienna Circle, and René Descartes. He was noted for his collaboration with Peter Hacker and his disagreements with Michael Dummett.

Reviews

[Evan Hurley O'Dwyer]

The essays in this book give an excellent explanation of many of the concepts crucial to the Philosophical Investigations. It cleared up a lot of confusion I had, and answered a lot of questions I had about some of the ideas Wittgenstein puts forward. The four volume set is probably the most thorough exegesis of the PI.

[Albert Filice]

P.M.S. Hacker is insanely brilliant with his insightful critical analysis of L.W.'s P.I.