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Books Related to Wittgenstein A. C. Grayling - ISBN: 0192854119
Excellent, but... - Rated
I was a little uncertain about this book as I was very unimpressed with one of Grayling's more general introductory philosophy books. However this is an excellent introduction to Wittgenstein's thought (and in that respect (alone) superior to Monk's outstanding biography).
But, the assessment and comments on Wittgenstein's work seem at times like caricature (I will concede that Grayling is probably simplifying considerably more nuanced, sophisticated arguments so it may just seem that way).
His criticisms actually succeeded in making me more interested in Wittgenstein - what Grayling often highlighted as a flaw, I felt properly (or at least better) understood could be a significant strength.
a good intro - Rated
Certainly more readable than Wittgenstein's works, but I feel Grayling fails to focus enough on the ideas held within Wittgenstein's most important work, philosophical investigations. The idea of a context specific 'language-game' remains one of the most important notions put forward in twentieth-century philosophy. Grayling fails to show how that idea corresponds to other ideas/philosophers, and he equally fails to put forward one of the Wittgenstein's most perplexing ideas - does 'slab' when spoken mean 'slab', 'bring me a slab', 'look at that slab' etc, - i.e. what is the difference between a word and a sentence? Otherwise, the basics are set out in the 'very short intro', but I feel that Grayling underplays Wittgenstein's importance.
Enjoyable and critical, makes you want to know more - Rated
This is a well written book on Wittgenstein that is lucid and fun to read. It contains what you would expect to find in a first introduction. The author considers Wittgenstein to be somewhat overrated. I'm currently in no position to judge, but this book has really motivated me to delve deeper into the matter and also into Wittgenstein's biography.
