More than Words: from Language to Society. Wittgenstein, Marx, and Critical Theory
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Christoph Demmerling
Abstract
The present article discusses the relationship between the critique of language and social philosophy-in particular, with reference to the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein. The opening section starts with an explanation of what it means to understand philosophy as critique. A variety of forms of language criticism is distinguished. It is against such a background that Wittgenstein’s philosophy is interpreted as a form of critique of language, which aims at an analysis of the mechanisms of linguistic reification and may be related to socio-philosophical analyses of reification. Wittgenstein’s understanding of philosophy as therapy may, in turn, be related to the emancipatory dimension of critical social philosophy. Finally, using the comparative example of our linguistic and real-life interaction with time, the argument comes to a close with a reflection concerning the extent to which criticism of language may manifest its potential as an apt tool serving the purpose of the critique of society.
Abstract
The present article discusses the relationship between the critique of language and social philosophy-in particular, with reference to the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein. The opening section starts with an explanation of what it means to understand philosophy as critique. A variety of forms of language criticism is distinguished. It is against such a background that Wittgenstein’s philosophy is interpreted as a form of critique of language, which aims at an analysis of the mechanisms of linguistic reification and may be related to socio-philosophical analyses of reification. Wittgenstein’s understanding of philosophy as therapy may, in turn, be related to the emancipatory dimension of critical social philosophy. Finally, using the comparative example of our linguistic and real-life interaction with time, the argument comes to a close with a reflection concerning the extent to which criticism of language may manifest its potential as an apt tool serving the purpose of the critique of society.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter i
- Table of Contents v
- Critical Thinking and Philosophical Criticism – an Outline of the Problem 1
- Criticism as Paradoxatism. The Heraclitean Critique of the Notion of Opinion 11
- Criticism as the Basis for the Procedures of Hypothetical Dialectic in Plato’s Philosophy 25
- Aspects of Criticism in Plato’s Philosophy 47
- References to Plato’s Theaetetus in book Γ (IV) of Aristotle’s Metaphysics 65
- Conversation and Conservation. Two Kinds of Anti-Dogmatic Criticism in the Philosophy of Politics and their Antecedents in Ancient Greek Forms of Skepticism and Fallibilism 73
- The Critical Dimension of Locke’s Epistemology 93
- The Old and New Critique of Pure Reason based on Immanuel Kant and Jakob Friedrich Fries 111
- Criticism as It Was Understood by Hermann Cohen 127
- Hermann Cohen’s Critical Exposition of Kant’s Critique of Taste 139
- Criticism and Rationality in the Lvov-Warsaw School 161
- Rationality and Criticism in the Views of the Philosophers of the Lvov-Warsaw School and K.R. Popper 173
- More than Words: from Language to Society. Wittgenstein, Marx, and Critical Theory 191
- Reflexive Social Critique. On the Dialectical Criticism of Ideology According to Marx and Adorno 213
- Skepticism and Atheism. Three Types of Relationships 237
- Criticism in Political Philosophy. On the Advantages of Pragmatism over Ideologized Politics in Light of the Works of Witold Gombrowicz 251
- Consolatio or Critical Methods? Reflections on Philosophical Counseling 265
- Plato’s Dialectics as a Method of Critical Reflection on Art 281
- Register 299
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter i
- Table of Contents v
- Critical Thinking and Philosophical Criticism – an Outline of the Problem 1
- Criticism as Paradoxatism. The Heraclitean Critique of the Notion of Opinion 11
- Criticism as the Basis for the Procedures of Hypothetical Dialectic in Plato’s Philosophy 25
- Aspects of Criticism in Plato’s Philosophy 47
- References to Plato’s Theaetetus in book Γ (IV) of Aristotle’s Metaphysics 65
- Conversation and Conservation. Two Kinds of Anti-Dogmatic Criticism in the Philosophy of Politics and their Antecedents in Ancient Greek Forms of Skepticism and Fallibilism 73
- The Critical Dimension of Locke’s Epistemology 93
- The Old and New Critique of Pure Reason based on Immanuel Kant and Jakob Friedrich Fries 111
- Criticism as It Was Understood by Hermann Cohen 127
- Hermann Cohen’s Critical Exposition of Kant’s Critique of Taste 139
- Criticism and Rationality in the Lvov-Warsaw School 161
- Rationality and Criticism in the Views of the Philosophers of the Lvov-Warsaw School and K.R. Popper 173
- More than Words: from Language to Society. Wittgenstein, Marx, and Critical Theory 191
- Reflexive Social Critique. On the Dialectical Criticism of Ideology According to Marx and Adorno 213
- Skepticism and Atheism. Three Types of Relationships 237
- Criticism in Political Philosophy. On the Advantages of Pragmatism over Ideologized Politics in Light of the Works of Witold Gombrowicz 251
- Consolatio or Critical Methods? Reflections on Philosophical Counseling 265
- Plato’s Dialectics as a Method of Critical Reflection on Art 281
- Register 299
