The principal goal of this collection of stimulating essays is clarity about Wittgenstein's work in general and about his conception of clarity in particular. This in-depth, clearly presented study by an internationally recognised scholar of Wittgenstein will be of great interest to philosophers and students of 20th-century thought.
The book explores the interconnectedness of Wittgenstein's ideas with the broader Western philosophical tradition, challenging the view that his thoughts can be considered in isolation. Garver, a prominent scholar of Wittgenstein, provides a detailed examination of how his work relates to and influences various philosophical discourses, highlighting the significance of understanding his contributions within a historical context.
Though Jacques Derrida and Ludwig Wittgenstein emerged from vastly different cultural and intellectual traditions - Derrida from the French and Wittgenstein from the British - both distrust the "totalizing" concept of metaphysics. In this way, the two belong to the broad contemporary movement of analytical skepticism. Newton Garver and Seung-Chong Lee discuss this commonality, Derrida and Wittgenstein's similar view that language is the key to understanding philosophy. They distinguish the differences between Derrida's style of obscure terminology, long, involved sentences, and multiple meanings, and Wittgenstein's approach to writing, which makes use of simple, familiar analogies and similes