BRIAN MARTINE

Though little known outside academia, Wittgenstein was nonetheless a tremendously influential voice of “analytic” philosophy, which has dominated English-language philosophy since the early 1900s. While still young, Wittgenstein wrote that ordinary language, correctly analyzed, provides a clear “picture” of reality. Then he spent years developing a different, more nuanced understanding of how language evolves and functions. This course examines the extraordinary influence Wittgenstein’s thinking enjoyed in Britain and the U.S., not just in philosophy, but also linguistics, the social sciences, and other fields.

Suggested texts for this course: Philosophical Investigations and On Certainty by Ludwig Wittgenstein. Both texts are available on the Internet.

Brian Martine is professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Alabama at

Huntsville.