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"Michael N. Forster"
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Wittgenstein on the arbitrariness of grammar
What is the nature of a conceptual scheme? Are there alternative conceptual schemes? If so, are some more justifiable or correct than others? The later Wittgenstein already addresses these fundamental philosophical questions under the general rubric of \"grammar\" and the question of its \"arbitrariness\"--and does so with great subtlety. This book explores Wittgenstein's views on these questions.
Part I interprets his conception of grammar as a generalized (and otherwise modified) version of Kant's transcendental idealist solution to a puzzle about necessity. It also seeks to reconcile Wittgenstein's seemingly inconsistent answers to the question of whether or not grammar is arbitrary by showing that he believed grammar to be arbitrary in one sense and non-arbitrary in another.
Part II focuses on an especially central and contested feature of Wittgenstein's account: a thesis of the diversity of grammars. The author discusses this thesis in connection with the nature of formal logic, the limits of language, and the conditions of semantic understanding or access.
Strongly argued and cleary written, this book will appeal not only to philosophers but also to students of the human sciences, for whom Wittgenstein's work holds great relevance.
eBook
Kant and skepticism
This book puts forward a much-needed reappraisal of Immanuel Kant's conception of and response to skepticism, as set forth principally in the Critique of Pure Reason. It is widely recognized that Kant's theoretical philosophy aims to answer skepticism and reform metaphysics--Michael Forster makes the controversial argument that those aims are closely linked. He distinguishes among three types of skepticism: \"veil of perception\" skepticism, which concerns the external world; Humean skepticism, which concerns the existence of a priori concepts and synthetic a priori knowledge; and Pyrrhonian skepticism, which concerns the equal balance of opposing arguments. Forster overturns conventional views by showing how the first of these types was of little importance for Kant, but how the second and third held very special importance for him, namely because of their bearing on the fate of metaphysics. He argues that Kant undertook his reform of metaphysics primarily in order to render it defensible against these types of skepticism. Finally, in a critical appraisal of Kant's project, Forster argues that, despite its strengths, it ultimately fails, for reasons that carry interesting broader philosophical lessons. These reasons include inadequate self-reflection and an underestimation of the resources of Pyrrhonian skepticism.
eBook
After Herder : philosophy of language in the German tradition
Michael Forster explores the historical roots of philosophy of language, which he traces to German thinkers of the 18th century, among whom J. G. Herder is the key figure. Herder established fundamental principles concerning thought, meaning, and language, founded the disciplines of anthropology and linguistics, and has much still to teach us.
eBook
KANT'S PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE?
The critical Kant has often been read as a sort of dualist concerning the relation of thought and concepts to language — most famously by Hamann in his Metacritique of 1784, but also by many other commentators since. However, recent German scholarship has ascribed to Kant the same sort of anti-dualistic insight into the essential dependence of thought and concepts on language that Hamann and Herder became famous for. Which interpretation is right? This article argues that there is textual evidence supporting both interpretations, but that it belongs to different periods of Kant's development: the dualism belongs to the period of the three Critiques, lasting until about 1790, after which Kant switched to anti-dualism. The article also argues that during the period of the three Critiques Kant gave an exaggerated impression of the strength of the dualism to which he was committed, before eventually abandoning it in the later period, and that in both cases this was largely due to the influence of Hamann and Herder, which in the first case caused Kant to try to distance himself from their position and in the second case eventually caused him to accept it.
Journal Article
Herder's Philosophy of Language, Interpretation, and Translation: Three Fundamental Principles
Forster examines three fundamental roles in Johann Herder's philosophy of language, which also play fundamental roles in his theory of interpretation and translation. He describes the principles in question and their roles in his theory; explains their emergence in a way which helps make clearer the nature of Herder's contribution, and gives at least a sense of their philosophical subtlety and defensibility.
Journal Article
Varieties of Skepticism
In the first part of this essay I shall give a general exposition of the role of skepticism in Kant’s critical philosophy. In the second part, I shall offer a critical assessment of the Kantian position that emerges.
The critical philosophy, as first set forth by Kant in theCritique of Pure Reasonof 1781/7 (henceforth: theCritique), grew from and addresses a very complex set of philosophical concerns. But among these, two which stand out as especially central are a concern to addressskepticismand a concern to develop a reformedmetaphysics.
That much is widely recognized. However, it
Book Chapter
“Veil of Perception” Skepticism
Philosophers in the Anglophone tradition tend to be in the habit of assuming that skepticism can be equated with, or at least has its paradigmatic form in, Berkeley’s problem of a “veil of perception.” Accordingly, many, if not most, Kant-interpreters in the Anglophone tradition write as though this problem were central to the critical philosophy.¹ However, such a picture of the critical philosophy seems to me fundamentally mistaken. Unlike the other two types of skepticism recently mentioned, “veil of perception” skepticism played no significant role in the origination of the critical philosophy, and no more than a secondary role in
Book Chapter
A Metaphysics of Morals?
We should now turn to some potentially more serious problems. In this chapter I would like to consider Kant’s ambiguous position concerning a “metaphysics of morals.” It seems to me that he in fact adopts at least two quietly but radically different positions on this subject during the critical period—first a position which turns out to be flatly self-contradictory, then later a position which avoids such crass inconsistency but which may still be vulnerable to other objections. I shall here concentrate mainly on distinguishing these two positions and identifying the self-contradiction in the first one, merely indicating more briefly
Book Chapter