Wittgenstein and Ethics (Elements in the Philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein)

In Ludwig Wittgenstein's writings, ethics takes a central place in his thinking. This element investigates his engagement with ethics in both early and later thinking. Starting from the remarks on ethics in the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and the framing of these remarks, it presents two influential approaches to Tractarian ethics, before it develops a coherent reading of ethics in the early thinking, focusing on ethical silence and the relationship notions of world and the philosophical 'I'. The reading of 'A Lecture on Ethics' focuses on the critique of ethical theory and the personal dimension of ethics, two themes also running through Wittgenstein's later thinking. It considers Wittgenstein's later ethical investigations, of ethical examples, ethically relevant language uses of language and the connections between reflections on ethics and living. It also considers the role of the other in Wittgenstein's later thinking. Cover Title page Copyright page Wittgenstein and Ethics Contents 1 Wittgenstein’s Remarks on Ethics 1.1 Wittgenstein on Ethics: Interpretative Challenges 1.2 Why Bother with Wittgenstein’s Remarks on Ethics? 2 Remarks on Ethics in the Tractatus: Guides and Interpretations 2.1 Wittgenstein’s Main Contention 2.2 The Remarks on Ethics 2.3 Metaphysical Approaches to Ethics 2.4 Resolute Approaches to Ethics 3 The Tractatus Remarks on Ethics Again: A Reading 3.1 Ethical Silence Re-visited (TLP 6.42) 3.2 Logic and Ethics Are Transcendental (TLP 6.421) 3.3 World and ‘I’, Will and Ethics (TLP 6.423) 3.4 Is This Really Ethics? (TLP 6.422) 4 ‘A Lecture on Ethics’ and Continuities in Wittgenstein’s View of Ethics 4.1 ‘A Lecture on Ethics’ 4.2 The Critique of Ethical Theory 4.3 Ethics Is Personal 5 Wittgenstein’s Later Writings on Ethics 5.1 Ethics in Wittgenstein’s Later Writings 5.2 Uses of ‘Good’ and Ethically Relevant Uses of Language 5.3 Context, Particularity, and Objectivity 5.4 Ethics and the ‘Problem of Life’ 5.5 The Other in Wittgenstein’s Later Writings 5.6 Coda References Acknowledgements