A Wittgensteinian way with paradoxes / Rupert Read.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 261-269) and index.

I. Away With Philosophers' Paradoxes -- 1. Pre-empting Russell's Paradox: Wittgenstein and Frege Against Logicism -- 2. T̀ime Travel': The Very Idea -- 3. A Paradox for Chomsky: On Our Being Through and Through Ìnside' Language -- 4. Kripke's Rule-Following Paradox-and Kripke's Conjuring Trick -- 5. The Unstatability of Kripkean Skepticisms -- 6. Heaps of Trouble: L̀ogically Alien Thought' and the Dissolution of Sòrites' Paradoxes -- 7. The Dissolution of the Sùrprise Exam' Paradox-and its Implications for Rational Choice Theory -- II. A Way With Lived Paradoxes -- 8. Swastikas and Cyborgs: The Significance of PI 420, for Reading Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations as a Ẁar Book' -- 9. From Moore's Paradox to Ẁittgenstein's Paradox'?: On Lived Paradox in Cases of (Moral and) Mental Ill-Health -- 10. Lived R̀eductio Ad Absurdum': A Paradoxical and Proper Method of Philosophy, and of Life -- 11. Leaving Things As It Is (sic.): Philosophy and Life Àfter' Wittgenstein and Zen -- 12. Conclusion: On Lived Paradoxes.

A Wittgensteinian Way with Paradoxes examines how some of the classic philosophical paradoxes that have so puzzled philosophers over the centuries can be dissolved. Read argues that paradoxes such as the Sorites, Russell's Paradox and the paradoxes of time travel do not, in fact, need to be solved. Rather, using a resolute Wittgensteinian 'therapeutic' method, the book explores how virtually all apparent philosophical paradoxes can be diagnosed and dissolved through examining their conditions of arising; to loosen their grip and therapeutically liberate those philosophers suffering from them (including oneself). The book contrasts such paradoxes with real, 'lived paradoxes': paradoxes that are genuinely experienced outside of the philosopher's study, in everyday life. Thus Read explores instances of lived paradox (such as paradoxes of self-hatred and of denial of other humans' humanity) and the harm they can cause, psychically, morally or politically. These lived paradoxes, he argues, sometimes cannot be dissolved using a Wittgensteinian treatment. Moreover, in some cases they do not need to be: for some, such as the paradoxical practices of Zen Buddhism (and indeed of Wittgenstein himself), can in fact be beneficial. The book shows how, once philosophers' paradoxes have been exorcized, real lived paradoxes can be given their due.