Michael Maurer | University of Southampton (original) (raw)
Supervisors: Denis McManus
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Papers by Michael Maurer
In the philosophical oevre of Ludwig Wittgenstein explicitly ethical remarks appear as scattered ... more In the philosophical oevre of Ludwig Wittgenstein explicitly ethical remarks appear as scattered islands within the ocean of logical and linguistic investigations. The fact that precisely these remarks motivate Wittgenstein's Denkbewegungen was articulated by the author himself several times. In the following article we attempt to provide hints for the ethical dimension of Wittgenstein's "authorial strategy" (Conant, 2000, 175) by reflecting on the importance of the question of the meaning of life for the development of Wittgenstein's philosophical style of thinking. When refering to the "close relationship between his life problems and his philosophical way of thinking" (DB, 8, my translation), we are not following the impulse of reductionist psychologization, but are offering an invitation to a reading of Wittgenstein"s philososophy that emphasizes the "tone of voice" (Monk, 2001, 4) of his language.
The aim of the present paper is to elucidate the metaphilosophical incommensurability between the... more The aim of the present paper is to elucidate the metaphilosophical incommensurability between the two current camps in Tractatus research. To this end, I will examine Peter Hacker’s claim that the Resolute Reading unconsciously reintroduces through the back-door the previously banished notion of ‘important nonsense’. It will be argued that Hacker’s conclusion hinges on a misunderstanding of the logical structure of Cora Diamond’s mode of speech, thus disregarding the essential role given to the relationship between the logical and the psychological in her account of how the reader climbs the nonsensical rungs of the Tractarian ladder. My contribution is not to opt for either of these exegeses, but to shed light on the heterogeneity of the metaphilosophical strategies they see the early Wittgenstein engaged in on the battle-field of metaphysics.
Talks by Michael Maurer
The following paper aims to shed light on the nature of philosophical problems. I will present th... more The following paper aims to shed light on the nature of philosophical problems. I will present the later Wittgenstein’s therapeutic method of treating philosophical confusion as a revolutionary strategy for the battle-ground of metaphysics. Wittgensteinian therapy tries to free us from the false pictures that underlie our obsessive urge to obtain ultimate answers in philosophy.
The aim of my essay is to suggest that the author of the Philosophical Investigations, when describing his later philosophical activity as a ‘work on oneself’, was arguing for a transformation of the nature of philosophy; a transformation that aims at shifting Modern philosophy’s focus of interest from knowledge to self-knowledge. This shift can only be fully executed, I will argue, if the Bakerian analogy between (Freudian) psychotherapy and Wittgensteinian philosophy is rescued from its vague metaphorical status through a thorough inquiry into the true nature of this relationship.
Such an investigation would illuminate the nature of philosophical problems by exploring how the subtle emergence of philosophical nonsense is indebted to a confusion of the interacting spheres of the logical and the psychological.
In the philosophical oevre of Ludwig Wittgenstein explicitly ethical remarks appear as scattered ... more In the philosophical oevre of Ludwig Wittgenstein explicitly ethical remarks appear as scattered islands within the ocean of logical and linguistic investigations. The fact that precisely these remarks motivate Wittgenstein's Denkbewegungen was articulated by the author himself several times. In the following article we attempt to provide hints for the ethical dimension of Wittgenstein's "authorial strategy" (Conant, 2000, 175) by reflecting on the importance of the question of the meaning of life for the development of Wittgenstein's philosophical style of thinking. When refering to the "close relationship between his life problems and his philosophical way of thinking" (DB, 8, my translation), we are not following the impulse of reductionist psychologization, but are offering an invitation to a reading of Wittgenstein"s philososophy that emphasizes the "tone of voice" (Monk, 2001, 4) of his language.
The aim of the present paper is to elucidate the metaphilosophical incommensurability between the... more The aim of the present paper is to elucidate the metaphilosophical incommensurability between the two current camps in Tractatus research. To this end, I will examine Peter Hacker’s claim that the Resolute Reading unconsciously reintroduces through the back-door the previously banished notion of ‘important nonsense’. It will be argued that Hacker’s conclusion hinges on a misunderstanding of the logical structure of Cora Diamond’s mode of speech, thus disregarding the essential role given to the relationship between the logical and the psychological in her account of how the reader climbs the nonsensical rungs of the Tractarian ladder. My contribution is not to opt for either of these exegeses, but to shed light on the heterogeneity of the metaphilosophical strategies they see the early Wittgenstein engaged in on the battle-field of metaphysics.
The following paper aims to shed light on the nature of philosophical problems. I will present th... more The following paper aims to shed light on the nature of philosophical problems. I will present the later Wittgenstein’s therapeutic method of treating philosophical confusion as a revolutionary strategy for the battle-ground of metaphysics. Wittgensteinian therapy tries to free us from the false pictures that underlie our obsessive urge to obtain ultimate answers in philosophy.
The aim of my essay is to suggest that the author of the Philosophical Investigations, when describing his later philosophical activity as a ‘work on oneself’, was arguing for a transformation of the nature of philosophy; a transformation that aims at shifting Modern philosophy’s focus of interest from knowledge to self-knowledge. This shift can only be fully executed, I will argue, if the Bakerian analogy between (Freudian) psychotherapy and Wittgensteinian philosophy is rescued from its vague metaphorical status through a thorough inquiry into the true nature of this relationship.
Such an investigation would illuminate the nature of philosophical problems by exploring how the subtle emergence of philosophical nonsense is indebted to a confusion of the interacting spheres of the logical and the psychological.