"The New Wittgenstein" offers a major reevaluation of Wittgenstein's thinking. This stellar collection of original essays by the "third wave" of Wittgenstein critics presents a significantly different portrait of the philosopher, not as a proponent of metaphysical theories but as an advocate of philosophy as therapy--a means of helping us grasp the essence of thought and language by attending to our everyday forms of expression. Boldly criticizing standard interpretations and offering unorthodox perspectives, these controversial essays will change the way we look at Wittgenstein's entire body of work. Contributors: Stanley Cavell, David Cerbone, James Conant, Alice Crary, Cora Diamond, David Finkelstein, Juliette Floyd, P.M.S. Hacker, John McDowell, Hilary Putnam, Rupert Read, Martin Stone, Edward Witherspoon.

Introduction PART I Wittgenstein's later writings: the illusory comfort of an external standpoint 1 Excursus on Wittgenstein's vision of language 2 Non-cognitivism and rule-following 3 Wittgenstein on rules and platonism 4 What 'There can be no such thing as meaning anything by any word' could possibly mean 5 Wittgenstein on deconstruction 6 Wittgenstein's philosophy in relation to political thought PART II The Tractatus as forerunner of Wittgenstein's later writings 7 Ethics, imagination and the method of Wittgenstein's Tractatus 8 Elucidation and nonsense in Frege and early Wittgenstein 9 Rethinking mathematical necessity 10 Wittgenstein, mathematics and philosophy 11 Does Bismarck have a beetle in his box? The private language argument in the Tractatus 12 How to do things with wood: Wittgenstein, Frege and the problem of illogical thought 13 Conceptions of nonsense in Carnap and Wittgenstein A dissenting voice 14 Was he trying to whistle it?