Wittgenstein [Paperback]

Sir Anthony Kenny (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2, 2006 | ISBN-10: 1405136553 | ISBN-13: 978-1405136556 | Edition: Revised Edition

This revised edition of Sir Anthony Kenny’s classic work on Wittgenstein contains a new introduction which covers developments in Wittgenstein scholarship since the book was first published.

• Widely praised for providing a lucid and historically informed account of Wittgenstein’s core philosophical concerns.
  
• Demonstrates the continuity between Wittgenstein’s early and later writings.
  
• Provides a persuasive argument for the unity of Wittgenstein’s thought.
  
• Kenny also assesses Wittgenstein’s influence in the latter part of the twentieth century.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Kenny's book remains the best general introduction to Wittgenstein’s work as a whole. Careful, clear, persistent in its pursuit of puzzles, but always stylish and accessible, it will take even a beginner deep into the most difficult issues raised by Wittgenstein’s texts, while still being helpful and provocative to advanced students and scholars.'
--Michael Morris, University of Sussex

'…Sir Anthony’s remains the most useful critical introduction to Wittgenstein’s life and thought. The updated introduction is more than welcome. Among students and, especially, teachers of Wittgenstein, the long-awaited re-release of this classic is cause for celebration.'
--Richard Kortum, East Tennessee State University

Book Description

First published in 1973, Sir Anthony Kenny's classic introduction to Wittgenstein was widely praised for offering a lucid and historically informed account of the philosopher's core concerns. Kenny's study is also remarkable for demonstrating the continuity between Wittgenstein's early and late writings. Focusing on Wittgenstein's philosophy of mind and language, Kenny closely examines the works of the middle years. He exposes apparent conflicts and then goes on to reconcile them, providing a persuasive argument for the unity of Wittgenstein's thought. This revised edition includes an extensive new introduction in which Kenny outlines developments in Wittgenstein scholarship since the book was first published and assesses Wittgenstein's influence in the latter part of the twentieth century.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell; Revised Edition edition (January 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1405136553
• ISBN-13: 978-1405136556
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.7 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #429,734 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, July 3, 2007

By 

Matthew A. Johnston (Aromas, California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Wittgenstein (Paperback)

This book started with some bio and then some basic logic (!), which I felt was condescending, but I quickly changed my mind when it became clear how important this was to understanding the Tractatus and W.'s later works. There are real insights in this book, i.e., it isn't just a basic introduction.
Furthermore, Kenny does an outstanding job of making it all clear in straightforward prose. He doesn't latch on to catch phrases or assume you are already a Wittgensteinian. He simply spells out the evolution of W.'s thought in a clear and precise way.
This is just good scholarship, whatever you may think of his interpretation at the end of reading it.

5.0 out of 5 stars Masterful, January 2, 2012

By 

toronto - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wittgenstein (Paperback)

This is the best introduction to Wittgenstein, still (the revised edition has an illuminating new introduction). The first couple of chapters are hard going, but clear -- without an understanding of the impulse towards Frege and Russell, the later Wittgenstein makes little sense. Whenever I get stuck in W, which is a lot, I always head for this book first. Then Hacker and co. Kenny does note that more recent Wittgenstein scholarship has focussed on "On Certainty" and the late remarks on Colour.

Kenny is masterful. His other book on Descartes is also worth reading.

6 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Incredibly confusing, January 8, 2010

By 

Evan Hershman - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Wittgenstein (Paperback)

I don't know why anyone would think that this book is "clear" or good for beginners. I'm taking a class on Wittgenstein where we've had to read a couple of chapters of this, and every page is a struggle. Maybe I'm just dense, but Kenny chooses to focus on all the wrong things in setting up the background to Wittgenstein's thought in the work of Frege and Russell... he spends an unnecessary amount of time on how Frege tried to reduce arithmetic to logic (which is not really Wittgenstein's focus), but meanwhile spends only a paragraph or two on Russell's theory of types. For another example, the explanation of of the critical concept of the distinction between "saying" and "showing" in chapter 3 is incredibly difficult to understand in Kenny's account of it, when really, once one figures it out, it is straightforward in my opinion. But I had to consult a number of other sources to figure it out, because Kenny's explanation was so garbled.

If you need an introductory book on Wittgenstein, I recommend instead "Wittgenstein: A Very Short Introduction" by A.C. Grayling, which does a much better job of telling you in clear language the philosophical background you need to know to understand Wittgenstein.