THE FIRST WRITTEN PRESENTATION OF KRIPKENSTEIN

KRIPKE, SAUL A.

Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language. An Elementary Exposition.

Oxford, Blackwell, (1982). 8vo. Orig. full cloth w. gilt lettering to spine, minor bumping to capitals, otherwise a near mint copy in the orig. d-j., which is also near mint. X, 150 pp.

First edition of the immensely influential work on Wittgenstein by the exceedingly influential and important logician and philosopher of language, Saul Aaron Kripke. Kripke was professor of philosophy in America, and his works are quite rare, since many of them remain unpublished and are only known in privately circulated manuscripts. In 2001 he received the Schock Prize in Logic and Philosophy.
Kripke is renowned for his studies of Wittgenstein, which are printed in this work for the first time. The subject of Kripke's book is usually referred to as "Kripkenstein", since the results (as well as the method) have very little to do with what is commonly accepted as the philosophy of Wittgenstein. Kripke's main claim in this (in)famous book is that all previous commentaries on Wittgenstein's Philosophische Untersuchungen (Philosophical Investigations) have failed to understand W.'s argument against "private language". According to Kripke Wittgenstein's "private language argument" is principally to be explicated in terms of the problem of "following a rule". The "meaning scepticism" presented in this work has caused a wide range of secondary litterature and very harsh critique. The book has been called a scandal of philosophy, and the number of well-esteemed philosophers who have lined up to criticise the book is very large indeed. Among these can be found Noam Chomsky, John Searle, Peter Winch, Gordon Baker etc etc. However flawed the reading of Wittgenstein is considered to be, though, the work has received overwhealming attention, and is considered highly important and interesting.

Order-nr.: 35828