The Grammar of Politics

Ludwig Wittgenstein's work has been widely interpreted and appropriated by subsequent philosophers, as well as by scholars from areas as diverse as anthropology, cultural studies, literary theory, sociology, law, and medicine. The Grammar of Politics demonstrates the variety of ways political philosophers understand Wittgenstein's importance to their discipline and apply Wittgensteinian methods to their own projects.

In her introduction, Cressida J. Heyes notes that Wittgenstein himself was skeptical of political theory, and that his philosophy does not lead naturally or inexorably toward any particular political position. Instead, she says, his ideas motivate certain attitudes toward the "game of politics" that the essays in this volume share: some contributors argue that political theory should use Wittgensteinian methods, others apply Wittgenstein's philosophy of language to figures and debates in areas of political theory (such as post-Kantian genealogy or Habermas's foundationalism), and still others reveal the ways Wittgenstein's concepts inform political foci as diverse as anthropomorphism, defining social group membership, and the nature of liberty. "All the contributors," Heyes writes, "take their lead from Wittgenstein's attempts to break the hold of certain pictures that tacitly direct our language and thus our forms of life. Making these pictures visible as pictures reveals the hitherto concealed structure and the contingency of certain ways of thinking about politics."

Cressida J. Heyes is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Alberta and the author of Line Drawings: Defining Women through Feminist Practice, also from Cornell.

It is difficult in the space of a short review to give a detailed account of the virtues of this rich collection. Cressida Heyes has assembled an outstanding group of authors, many of whom show that Wittgenstein's approach to philosophy is more important than ever. There can be little doubt that this book will contribute to the prestige of political philosophy.

All in all, the volume shows that, although deriving implications for political philosophy from Wittgenstein's work is tricky business, the effort can be rewarding.