Certainty in Action: Wittgenstein on Language, Mind and Epistemology

Table of Contents:
Preface Acknowledgments Abbreviations of Works by Wittgenstein Introduction: Discovering Wittgenstein Part 1: Language 1. Through Thick and Thin: Wittgenstein's Grammar 2. Universal Grammar: Wittgenstein versus Chomsky 3. 'Words as Deeds': Wittgenstein's 'Spontaneous Utterances' and the Dissolution of the Explanatory Gap 4. Literature as the Measure of our Lives Part 2: Mind 5. From Deed to Word: Wittgenstein's Kink-Free Enactivism 6. Wittgenstein and the Memory Debate 7. Wittgenstein on Psychological Certainty Part 3: Epistemology 8. Wittgenstein on Knowledge and Certainty 9. Too Cavellian a Wittgenstein: Wittgenstein's Certainty, Cavell's Scepticism 10. Fighting Relativism: Wittgenstein and Kuhn 11. Beyond Hacker's Wittgenstein Notes References Index

About the Author :
Danièle Moyal-Sharrock is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Hertfordshire, UK.

Review :
Anyone interested in understanding the roots of mind, language and knowledge should read this marvellous and timely collection of essays. Moyal-Sharrock is one of most powerful and respected voices in today's Wittgenstein scholarship. The powerful analyses she provides in the pages of this collection are the perfect and much-needed antidote to tenacious over-intellectualising tendencies that are so prevalent in the contemporary philosophical scene. Daniele Moyal Sharrock argues that in addition to the early and late Wittgenstein, there is a third Wittgenstein and a third Wittgenstein masterwork: On Certainty. She defends this claim with powerful arguments and admirable lucidity. She explores On Certainty with insight, sensitivity, and philosophical passion, shedding light on epistemology and grammar alike. A laudable achievement. Danièle Moyal-Sharrock is the leading authority on Wittgenstein's On Certainty and one of the pioneers of hinge epistemology. The essays collected here form a serious challenge to work both within and beyond the Wittgensteinian tradition. Professor Moyal-Sharrock's philosophical approach helps resolve some of the most important problems in contemporary theories of knowledge, mind, and language. The result is a powerful form of enactivism which puts human behaviour in its rightful place, at the centre of philosophical enquiry. Moyal-Sharrock is one of the world's foremost philosophers working on Wittgenstein's later writings, especially On Certainty. This volume, which brings together many of the key themes in her work, will be indispensable reading for all those interested in the later Wittgenstein's contribution to contemporary philosophy.