Philosophy 211—The Philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein
Spring, 2005
T, Th 1:00-2:50, Building 000
Jay L. Garfield, Dewey House, Front Parlor
Office Hours:  T, Th 9:00-10:30  or by appt
                    Phone: 585-3649
				jgarfield@smith.edu

Required Texts:
             At Grécourt Bookstore:
                      L Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
                      L Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations
                      L Wittgenstein, The Blue and Brown Books
                      L Wittgenstein, On Certainty
                   S Kripke, Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language

             There will also be a reserve list of suggested  readings in the library.

This course surveys Wittgenstein’s principal contributions to 20th Century philosophy of 
language, philosophy of mind and epistemology.  We will consider the continuities and 
discontinuities between his early and late work and the broader philosophical motivations 
and consequences of the specific arguments he offers.  The emphasis throughout the course will 
be on careful reading and interpretation of Wittgenstein’s texts themselves and on their 
interpretation.  While we will not directly address the huge secondary literature on 
Wittgenstein, students are encouraged to make use of the commentaries and discussions 
placed on reserve in the library as aids or foils in developing readings of Wittgenstein’s views.


All students are expected to attend class regularly, to participate in class discussion, to 
complete all assigned reading prior to the class session in which it is to be discussed, 
and to come to class prepared with questions raised by the reading.  Students will be 
divided into two groups. For the first half of the semester, groups will write short papers 
on alternate weeks.  In the week in which a group is not writing, members of that group 
are required to comment on the papers written by the members of the other group on 
blackboard prior to class.  All students are required to monitor and to participate in the 
blackboard discussion.  All students will complete three short discussion papers of 2-3 
pp to be e-mailed as rtf attachments to all members of the class at least 48 hrs before the 
class in which they are to be discussed.  Blackboard discussion for a will be open for 
each set of papers and the discussion for a should be active through the evening before 
the relevant class. 

Each student will also write one final paper of 8-12 pp.  Topics for the final papers should 
be chosen in consultation with me, and I welcome any topic so long as it is directly 
concerned with the texts we read in the course.  I welcome rough drafts of the final papers, 
which can be handed to me at any time or e-mailed. I guarantee that I will return all 
rough drafts or outlines with comments within two days after I receive them. Each student 
will also lead one class discussion for approximately half a class session.  All work is to be 
handed in on time unless an extension is arranged prior to the due date.  I cannot 
guarantee either prompt return or feedback on work handed in late.

Grades will be determined as follows:
                    Short Papers:                                                                                       30% (10% each)
                    Blackboard comments on papers and discussion contribution    20%
                    Long Paper:                                                                                         25%
                    Seminar leading                                                                                 10%
                    Class Participation:                                                                            15%

										Schedule of Readings and Written Work:
Date          Topic                                                    Text                                      Written Work:
Introductory
1/25          Introductory                                        
1/27          The Fregean Background                  Frege, “Sense and Reference”
Part I.        Early Wittgenstein and Transition to the Later Period
2/1            The Picture Theory                             Tractatus  1-3                    
2/3            Propositions                                         Tractatus 4                         Group A Paper I
2/8            Compositionality and Limits             Tractatus 5                        
2/10          The Limits of Sense                             Tractatus 6-7                      Group B Paper I
2/15          Trouble in Paradise                             Blue Book, pp 1-57            
2/17          Trouble in Paradise                             Blue Book, pp 57-74           Group A Paper II
2/22          Towards a New Theory                     Brown Book, I                                  
2/24          Meaning as Use/Mind as Public       Brown Book, II                    Group B Paper II
Part II.      Philosophical Investigations
3/1            A Picture Held Us Captive                 PI  1-115.                                         		
3/3            Language, Mind and Meaning          PI 116-184                          Group A Paper III
3/8            Private Language I                              PI 185-265                                       
3/10          Private Language II                            PI 265-316                          Group B Paper III                                                               
3/22          Kripke’s version of the PLA I            Kripke, I, II                       
3/24          Kripke’s version of the PLA II          Kripke, III                         
3/29          Kripke on Other Minds                      Kripke postscript                                        
3/31          Thinking and Meaning                       PI  320-568                                      
4/5            Self-Knowledge                                   PI 569-693                                                     
4/7           Seeing-As                                              PI  Part II
Part III.    Knowledge and Certainty                                                                         
4/12          Moore’s Proof                                      Moore, “A Proof of the External World”    
4/14          Constitutive Knowledge                    On Certainty,  1-100         
4/19          Knowledge and Justification             On Certainty 101-204       
4/21          Epistemic Practices                              On Certainty 205-343                                   
4/26          What We Know                                   On Certainty 344-434
4/28          Evidence and Doubt                           On Certainty 435-676
5/6                                                                                                                        Final Paper due

Reserve Reading List
The Cambridge companion to Wittgenstein / edited by Hans Sluga, David G. 
Stern                                                                       B3376.W564 C345 1996
The continuity of Wittgenstein's thought / John Koethe                                     
                                                                                B3376.W56 K64 1996
Essays in the unknown Wittgenstein / Morris Lazerowitz and Alice Ambrose                                                                                
B3376.W564 L39 1984
The false prison : a study of the development of Wittgenstein's philosophy / 
David Pears                                                           B3376.W564 P35 1987 v.1
                                                                                B3376.W564 P35 1987 v.2
The legacy of Wittgenstein / Anthony Kenny                                                      
                                                                                 B3376.W564 K39 1984
Ludwig Wittgenstein [by] David Pears            B3376.W564 P36                                          
Ludwig Wittgenstein : the duty of genius / Ray Monk                                     
                                                                                 B3376.W564 M59 1990
Nothing is hidden : Wittgenstein's criticism of his early thought / Norman 
Malcolm                                                                 B3376.W564 M23 1986
The realistic spirit : Wittgenstein, philosophy, and the mind / Cora Diamond
                                                                                B3376.W564 D52 1991
Studies in the philosophy of Wittgenstein, edited by Peter Winch                     
                                                                                 193.9 W784 Zwi
Wittgenstein / Robert J. Fogelin                       B3376.W564 F63 1987
Wittgenstein, language and the world / John V. Canfield                                 
                                                                                  B3376.W564 C36
Wittgenstein's city / Robert John Ackermann                                                      
                                                                                 B3376.W564 A64 1988
Wittgenstein's place in twentieth-century analytic philosophy / P.M.S. Hacker
                                                                                B3376.W564 H245 1996
Notebooks, 1914-1916. Edited by G. H. von Wright and G. E. M. Anscombe, 
with an English    translation by G. E. M. Anscombe                                             
                                                                                 193.9 W784n
Philosophical grammar : part I, The proposition, and its sense, part II, On logic 
and mathematics /Ludwig Wittgenstein ; edited by Rush Rhees ; translated by 
Anthony Kenny                                                   B3376.W563 P52613 1978
Philosophical remarks / Ludwig Wittgenstein ; edited from his posthumous 
writings by Rush Rhees ; and translated into English by Raymond Hargreaves 
and Roger White                                                  B3376.W563 P513 1980
Remarks on the foundations of mathematics. Edited by G. H. von Wright, R. 
Rhees, G. E. M. Anscombe ; translated by G. E. M. Anscombe                                
                                                                                510.1 W784
Zettel; edited by G. E. M. Anscombe and G. H. von Wright, translated [from the 
German] by G E.M. Anscombe                         193.9 W784z
Moore and Wittgenstein on certainty / Avrum Stroll                                               
                                                                                 B1647.M74 S86 1994