Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations



Overview

Wittgenstein is one of the most important philosophers of the 20th Century thought, both in Europe and in the Anglo-American tradition. In the 1930’s he announced his break with the tradition of philosophy. At the same time, he announced the emergence, with his new work, of a revolutionary 'kink' in the evolution of philosophy, comparable to a revolutionary shift in the sciences.

The course focuses on his major later work, the Philosophical Investigations, and aims to develop an understanding of the issues and arguments discussed in this work, an awareness of his particular style and method of philosophising and a grasp of the distinctive role of his thought in the history of philosophy. Topics covered include: the nature of language; meaning and understanding; rule following; private language and our ordinary sensation language; sense perception and seeing aspects; the nature of thought; the mental and its relation to behaviour; other minds; the nature of philosophy (issues of method and style).

Programme details

Courses starts: 18 April 2024

Week 0: Course Orientation

Week 1: Introduction. The early and the later Wittgenstein

Week 2: The Augustinian picture of language

Week 3: Language-games and family resemblances

Week 4: Meaning and understanding

Week 5: Rules and rule following

Week 6: The private language argument

Week 7: Inner and outer: mental states and behaviour

Week 8: Thought and language

Week 9: The duck-rabit. 'Seeing as' and seeing aspects

Week 10: The role of philosophy   

Certification

Students who register for CATS points will receive a Record of CATS points on successful completion of their course assessment.

To earn credit (CATS points) you will need to register and pay an additional £10 fee per course. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online.

Coursework is an integral part of all weekly classes and everyone enrolled will be expected to do coursework in order to benefit fully from the course. Only those who have registered for credit will be awarded CATS points for completing work at the required standard.

Students who do not register for CATS points during the enrolment process can either register for CATS points prior to the start of their course or retrospectively from the January 1st after the current full academic year has been completed. If you are enrolled on the Certificate of Higher Education you need to indicate this on the enrolment form but there is no additional registration fee.

Fees

Description Costs
Course Fee £257.00
Take this course for CATS points £10.00

Funding

If you are in receipt of a UK state benefit, you are a full-time student in the UK or a student on a low income, you may be eligible for a reduction of 50% of tuition fees. Please see the below link for full details:

Concessionary fees for short courses

Tutor

Dr Roxana Baiasu

Apart from being a Philosophy tutor of the Department of Continuing Education, Roxana is also Associate Member of the Philosophy Faculty, Oxford University, Tutorial Fellow and Senior Lecturer at Stanford University Centre in Oxford.  Prior to this she was a lecturer at the Universities of Birmingham, Vienna and Leeds, and a Leverhulme Fellow at Sussex University. She is writing in the areas of European Philosophy, philosophy of illness and mental health, feminist philosophy and philosophy of religion. She edited (with G. Bird and A.W. Moore) Contemporary Kantian Metaphysics Today: New Essays on Time and Space (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), and published in, among others, The Southern Journal of Philosophy, IJPS,Research in Phenomenology and Sophia.

Course aims

To introduce you to Wittgenstein’s later philosophy in the Philosophical Investigations, to enquire into the nature of language, meaning, thought, mental life and philosophy, and to come to terms with puzzles concerning these issues.

Course Objectives:

  • To come to understand Wittgenstein’s central, influential views in the Philosophical Investigations.
  • To discuss and evaluate these views.
  • To engage with and examine relevant sections and extract from them key information from difficult philosophical texts.

Teaching methods

There will be one weekly recorded powerpoint lecture presentation and one weekly live session. Students will be asked to read sections from the set text in preparation for each live session.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course students will be expected to:

  • to be familiar with and understand some of Wittgenstein’s most important and influential philosophical views;
  • to be able to explain and evaluate these views;
  • to present a reasoned argument for supporting or criticising his views.

Assessment methods

One long essay of 1,500 words to be produced at the end of the course, or two 750 word essay (one to be produced by the end of week 5, and the second by the end of the course). Alternatively, students could choose to give a presentation (and provide notes of 1000 words). 

Students must submit a completed Declaration of Authorship form at the end of term when submitting your final piece of work. CATS points cannot be awarded without the aforementioned form - Declaration of Authorship form

Application

We will close for enrolments 7 days prior to the start date to allow us to complete the course set up. We will email you at that time (7 days before the course begins) with further information and joining instructions. As always, students will want to check spam and junk folders during this period to ensure that these emails are received.

To earn credit (CATS points) for your course you will need to register and pay an additional £10 fee per course. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online.

Please use the 'Book' or 'Apply' button on this page. Alternatively, please complete an enrolment form (Word) or enrolment form (Pdf).

Level and demands

Most of the Department's weekly classes have 10 or 20 CATS points assigned to them. 10 CATS points at FHEQ Level 4 usually consist of ten 2-hour sessions. 20 CATS points at FHEQ Level 4 usually consist of twenty 2-hour sessions. It is expected that, for every 2 hours of tuition you are given, you will engage in eight hours of private study.

Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme (CATS)

Terms & conditions for applicants and students

Information on financial support