Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Philosophy as Therapy

The concept of Philosophy as 'therapy', suggested by Wittgenstein in #133 of the Investigations, has had appeal to opponents of Logicism, in which Philosophy is conceived as regulating, if not constituting, the ordinary use of Language.  However, the image is only superficially helpful to his agenda.  For, 'therapy' is commonly associated with Psychoanalysis and related practices, the rise to prominence of which originates with Nietzsche's novel insights, at the center of which is his discovery of the Will to Power, and his efforts to supplant the Will to Live as the fundamental conatus of human conduct, the far-reaching implications of which are only slowly being explored.  So, to reduce such potentially epochal Philosophical activity to one of its consequences only illuminates how constricted Wittgenstein's range is, regardless of how effective he is against Logicism.

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