1st Edition

Wittgenstein and the Idea of a Critical Social Theory A Critique of Giddens, Habermas and Bhaskar

By Nigel Pleasants Copyright 1999
    224 Pages
    by Routledge

    222 Pages
    by Routledge

    This book uses the philosophy of Wittgenstein as a perspective from which to challenge the very idea of critical social theory, represented preeminently by Giddens, Habermas and Bhaskar. Renouncing the quest for an alternative Wittgensteinian theory of social and political life, the author shows that Wittgenstein nevertheless has considerable significance for critical thought and practice.

    Chapter 1 Wittgenstein and Critical Social Theory; Chapter 2 Does Wittgenstein Mean What he Says?; Chapter 3 Winch, Wittgenstein and Critical Social Theory; Chapter 4 Wittgenstein’s Rule-Following Remarks and Critical Social Theory; Chapter 5 Hayek’s and Giddens’s Epistemological Argument Against Socialism; Chapter 6 ‘Free to Act Otherwise’?; Chapter 7 Milgram Versus Garfinkel; Chapter 8 Habermas and The Idea of a Critical Social Theory; Chapter 9 Conclusion;

    Biography

    Nigel Pleaants Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Exeter.