Wittgenstein on Mind and Language

Wittgenstein on Mind and Language traces the development of a number of central themes in Wittgenstein's philosophy, including his conception of philosophical method, the picture theory of meaning, the limits of language, the application of language to experience, his treatment of private language, and what he called the "flow of life". It also explains how the unpublished manuscripts and typescripts were put together and why they often provide better evidence of the development of his ideas than can be found in his published writing. Arguing that Wittgenstein's views are often much more simple (and more radical) than we have been led to believe, Wittgenstein on Mind and Language provides an overview of the development of Wittgenstein's thought and brings to light aspects of his philosophy that have been almost universally neglected.

Stern argues that Wittgenstein's views are often much simpler (and more radical) than we have been led to believe. Drawing on ten years of research on the unpublished Wittgenstein papers, Stern investigates what motivated Wittgenstein's philosophical writing and casts new light on the Tractatus and Philosophical Investigations, revealing aspects of Wittgenstein's thought that have been heretofore neglected.