Forms of Life and Following Rules
Subtitle: A Wittgensteinian Defence of Relativism (Philosophy of History and Culture)
Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers
Published: July 1996
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 192
ISBN-13: 9789004105409
Subjects: Epistemology, theory of knowledge; Modern Western philosophy, c 1600 to the present; Relativity; Epistemology; Wittgenstein, Ludwig; Philosophy; History & Surveys - Medieval; Interior Design - General; 1889-1951; Knowledge, Theory of; Wittgenstein, Ludwig,
Description: This study defends a version of epistemological relativism, taking as its point of departure some key arguments from the later work of Ludwig Wittgenstein - especially those concerning rule following and forms of life. An opposition is established between the dominant form of epistemological realism - that which relies upon 'truth conditions' - and theories in which knowledge and truth are fundamentally dependent upon context.

It is argued in Part One that Wittgenstein proves the necessity for a contextual understanding of knowledge. Part Two develops a clearer idea of that context, using Thomas Kuhn's concept of paradigm. It is argued that this concept has been largely misunderstood (even by Kuhn), but that it can be developed to be remarkably consistent with Wittgenstein's arguments.

. All those - philosophers, historians, sociologists and others - who wish finally to understand the complex issues involved in debates about epistemological relativism will find this book invaluable.