Feminist Interpretations of Ludwig Wittgenstein

Published by Penn State University Press 2002

Feminist Interpretations of Ludwig Wittgenstein

Edited by: Naomi Scheman and Peg O’Connor

In the series Re-Reading the Canon

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780271032979

Overview
Contents

About this book

The original essays in this volume, while written from diverse perspectives, share the common aim of building a constructive dialogue between two currents in philosophy that seem not readily allied: Wittgenstein, who urges us to bring our words back home to their ordinary uses, recognizing that it is our agreements in judgments and forms of life that ground intelligibility; and feminist theory, whose task is to articulate a radical critique of what we say, to disrupt precisely those taken-for-granted agreements in judgments and forms of life.

Wittgenstein and feminist theorists are alike, however, in being unwilling or unable to "make sense" in the terms of the traditions from which they come, needing to rely on other means—including telling stories about everyday life—to change our ideas of what sense is and of what it is to make it. For both, appeal to grounding is problematic, but the presumed groundedness of particular judgments remains an unavoidable feature of discourse and, as such, in need of understanding. For feminist theory, Wittgenstein suggests responses to the immobilizing tugs between modernist modes of theorizing and postmodern challenges to them. For Wittgenstein, feminist theory suggests responses to those who would turn him into the "normal" philosopher he dreaded becoming, one who offers perhaps unorthodox solutions to recognizable philosophical problems.

In addition to an introductory essay by Naomi Scheman, the volume’s twenty chapters are grouped in sections titled "The Subject of Philosophy and the Philosophical Subject," "Wittgensteinian Feminist Philosophy: Contrasting Visions," "Drawing Boundaries: Categories and Kinds," "Being Human: Agents and Subjects," and "Feminism’s Allies: New Players, New Games." These essays give us ways of understanding Wittgenstein and feminist theory that make the alliance a mutually fruitful one, even as they bring to their readings of Wittgenstein an explicitly historical and political perspective that is, at best, implicit in his work. The recent salutary turn in (analytic) philosophy toward taking history seriously has shown how the apparently timeless problems of supposedly generic subjects arose out of historically specific circumstances. These essays shed light on the task of feminist theorists—along with postcolonial, queer, and critical race theorists—to (in Wittgenstein’s words) "rotate the axis of our examination" around whatever "real need[s]" might emerge through the struggles of modernity’s Others.

Contributors (besides the editors) are Nancy E. Baker, Nalini Bhushan, Jane Braaten, Judith Bradford, Sandra W. Churchill, Daniel Cohen, Tim Craker, Alice Crary, Susan Hekman, Cressida J. Heyes, Sarah Lucia Hoagland, Christine M. Koggel, Bruce Krajewski, Wendy Lynne Lee, Hilda Lindemann Nelson, Deborah Orr, Rupert Read, Phyllis Rooney, and Janet Farrell Smith.

Author / Editor information

Scheman Naomi :

Naomi Scheman is Professor of Philosophy and Women's Studies and Associate Dean of the Graduate School at the University of Minnesota. Peg O'Connor is Director of the Women's Studies Program at Gustavus Adolphus College.

Reviews

“This volume fully lives up to the series’ well-earned reputation for excellence. It provides a wealth of insight and stimulation for those interested in the implications of Wittgenstein’s work for destabilizing philosophical orthodoxies as well as for those who are concerned more specifically with questions of gender.”
—Peta Bowden, Philosophy in Review

“As should be clear, this book is not really something that is designed for those whose primary interest is Wittgenstein. But for those with an interest in feminist theory and an openness to Wittgensteinian ideas, it makes many valuable contributions.”
—Mark Lance, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

“Not only is there a diversity of interpretation of Wittgenstein vis-à-vis feminist theory, but there is great variation in these essays’ incorporation of Wittgenstein’s philosophical constructs as well. . . . Scholars in either field will find this of interest.”
—Fransisca Goldsmith, Library Journal

“For feminist philosophers interested in the history of ideas, the release of a new volume in The Pennsylvania State University Press ‘Re-Reading The Canon’ series is an important event. This volume fully lives up to the series’ well-earned reputation for excellence. It provides a wealth of insight and stimulation for those interested in the implications of Wittgenstein’s work for destabilizing philosophical orthodoxes as well as for those who are concerned more specifically with questions of gender.”
—Peta Bowden, Philosophy in Review

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Preface Nancy Tuana Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
List of Abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	xv
Introduction Naomi Scheman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Section I: The Subject of Philosophy and the Philosophical Subject
1. Philosophy, Language, and Wizardry Phyllis Rooney Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	25
2. Wittgenstein, Feminism, and the Exclusions of Philosophy Nancy E. Baker Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	48
3. Speaking Philosophy in the Voice of Another: Wittgenstein, Irigaray, and the Inheritance of Mimesis Tim Craker Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	65
Section II: Wittgensteinian Feminist Philosophy: Contrasting Visions
4. What Do Feminists Want in an Epistemology? Alice Crary Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97
5. Making Mistakes, Rendering Nonsense, andMoving Toward Uncertainty Sarah Lucia Hoagland Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	119
6. Tractatio Logico-Philosophica: Engendering Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Daniel Cohen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	138
7. The Moral Language Game Susan Hekman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	159
8. The Short Life of Meaning: Feminism and Nonliteralism Jane Braaten Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	176
Section III: Drawing Boundaries: Categories and Kinds
9. ‘‘Back to the Rough Ground!’’: Wittgenstein, Essentialism, and Feminist Methods Cressida J. Heyes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	195
10. Wittgenstein Meets ‘Woman’ in the Language-Game of Theorizing Feminism Hilde Lindemann Nelson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	213
11. Using Wittgensteinian Methodology to Elucidate the Meaning of ‘‘Equality’’ Christine M. Koggel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	235
12. Eleanor Rosch and the Development of Successive Wittgensteinian Paradigms for Cognitive Science Nalini Bhushan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	259
Section IV: Being Human: Agents and Subjects
13. Words and Worlds: Some Thoughts on the Significance of Wittgenstein for Moral and Political Philosophy Judith Bradford Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	287
14. Big Dogs, Little Dogs, Universal Dogs: Ludwig Wittgenstein and Patricia Williams Talk About the Logic of Conceptual Rearing Sandra W. Churchill Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	305
15. Developing Wittgenstein’s Picture of the Soul: Toward a Feminist Spiritual Erotics Deborah Orr Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	322
16. ‘‘No Master, Outside or In’’: Wittgenstein’s Critique of the Proprietary Subject Janet Farrell Smith Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	344
Section V: Feminism’s Allies: New Players, New Games
17. Wittgensteinian Vision(s) and ‘‘Passionate Detachments’’: A Queer Context for a Situated Episteme Wendy Lynne Lee Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	367
18. Wittgenstein’s Remarks on Colour as Remarks on Racism Bruce Krajewski Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	389
19. Culture, Nature, Ecosystem (or Why Nature Can’t Be Naturalized) Rupert Read Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	408
20. Moving to New Boroughs: Transforming the World by Inventing Language Games Peg O’Connor Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	432
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	451
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	455
Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	469