Wittgenstein and the Possibility of Discourse, 2nd Edition

Four years after the publication of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations, Rush Rhees, one of Wittgenstein’s literary executors and closest friends, began writing reflections on the masterpiece he had helped to edit. In this collection of his previously unpublished writings, Rhees offers an original critique of Wittgenstein’s analogy between language and games. The volume constitutes a major contribution not only to Wittgenstein scholarship, but also to philosophical debates about the possibility of discourse, and to why conversation is central to that possibility.

For the second edition, D.Z. Phillips has inserted as a preface Rhees’ article, ‘The Fundamental Problems of Philosophy’, first published in 1994. This paper gives a clear picture of Rhees’ view of the distinctive nature of philosophical questions and of the character shown in a deep pursuit of them. Secondly, Phillips has included as an additional appendix, some of Rhees’ reflections on Wittgenstein, his teacher. The book’s index has also been enhanced.