Wittgenstein and Pragmatism On Certainty in the Light of Peirce and James

This book investigates the conflicts concerning pragmatism in

Wittgenstein’s work On Certainty, through a comparison with the

pragmatist tradition as expressed by its founding fathers Charles S. Peirce

and William James. It also describes Wittgenstein’s first encounters with

pragmatism in the 1930s and shows the relevance of Frank Ramsey in the

examination the author discusses issues such as doubt, certainty, common

sense, forms of life, action and the pragmatic maxim. While highlighting

the objective convergences and divergences between the two approaches,

the volume makes links to ongoing debates on relativism, foundationalism,

perspectives on Wittgenstein’s philosophy.

Series Editor Foreword.- Foreword.- Acknowledgments.- List of Abbreviations.- 1. Introduction. ‘A kind of Weltanschauung’.- PART I – BEFORE ON CERTAINTY.- 2. Chapter 1. Pragmatism in Wittgenstein before On Certainty.- PART II – ON CERTAINTY.- 3. Chapter 2. Reasonable doubts and unshakable certainties.- 4. Chapter 3. Common sense and Weltbild.- 5. Chapter 4. Action and the pragmatic maxim.- PART III – BROADENING THE PERSPECTIVE.- 6. Chapter 5. From ground to background.- 7. Chapter 6. Between method and Weltanschauung.- 8. Conclusion. ‘I’ll teach you differences’.- Bibliography.- Index.

Anna Boncompagni (University of California, Irvine) works mainly on Wittgenstein’s later philosophy and on pragmatism, and is also interested in phenomenology, the history of analytic philosophy, and the philosophy of psychiatry. Her previous publications include “Elucidating Forms of Life: The Evolution of a Philosophical Tool”, Nordic Wittgenstein Review (2015) and Wittgenstein: Lo Sguardo e il Limite (2012).