Wittgenstein after Habermas
Some thoughts on the
later philosophy of Wittgenstein and its influences on ‘Critical theory’ of
Habermas
Charitha Herath
Department of Philosophy & Psychology
Ludwig Wittgenstein is considered as one
of the outstanding philosopher in the twentieth century who holds two philosophical
positions consecutively, one on his early book, Tractates Logico Philosophicus (1924) and other on his later work, Philosophical Investigation (1953). He centered
“language” as his object of inquiry which includes its ‘pictorial representation of
reality’, ‘nature of its use’ and ‘subjects inner epistemological relation of
language and its relations to outer world’. This paper focuses on Philosophical Investigation and The Blue and Brown Books (1958) and
examines main contributions of his later philosophy which subsequently ‘constructs' new theoretical domains in
anti-analytical schools of thoughts, mainly; (a) critical school of
social theory and (b) ‘hermeneutics’/ ‘deconstructs’ theorizing projects. In
particular, the paper engages critical theory of Habermas in revisiting Wittgenstein’s
influences on his ‘theories of communicative reason’ and ‘idea of discursive
ethics’. And, more importantly, the paper will go into a detailed study of the later Wittgenstein’s main inquiries such
as notion of ‘meaning as use’, ‘language games’ and ‘The idea of grammatical
investigation’; and will examine how these tools are being ‘repositioned’ in Habermas’
critical project.
As a second task, this study deals with
the theoretically accepted claim of
Habermasian theory which reads individual as an active, reflective and interpretative agents and inquires
whether such ‘ontological’ picture of human being would create counter-position
of Wittgenstein’s ‘use- value epistemological foundation’.
Key wards: Investigations, ostensive definition, private language, language game,
contextual reading, praxis, communicative reason
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