Wittgenstein among the Sciences

Rupert Read is Reader in Philosophy at the University of East Anglia, UK. He is author of 'Applying Wittgenstein', co-author of 'There is No Such Thing as a Social Science' and 'Kuhn' and editor of 'The New Wittgenstein' and 'The New Hume Debate' Simon Summers is Associate Tutor at the University of East Anglia, UK.

• Contents: Preface; Introduction, Simon Summers; Lecture Transcripts: Theories and non-theories of the human sciences; Part 1 Wittgenstein, Kuhn and Natural Science: Is Kuhn: the Wittgenstein of the sciences?; Kuhn and incommensurability: an interpretation; Wittgenstein and Kuhn on incommensurability - the view from inside; Values: another kind of incommensurability?: on incommensurability of values in science; Does Kuhn have a 'model' of science?; Inter-section: an outline Wittgensteinian elicitation of criteria. Part 2 Wittgenstein, Winch and 'Human Science': The ghost of Winch's ghost; The hard case of (severe cases of) schizophrenia; Extreme aversive emotion; Wittgenstein contra Friedman; 'Dissolving' the hard problem of consciousness back into ordinary life. A concluding summary; Rupert Read: interviewed by Simon Summers; Bibliography; Index.

'Read challenges the reader to consider what science is. He offers an insightful account of Kuhn, successfully calling the traditional conception of Kuhn as a relativist and an idealist into question. Read's book displays great interpretative skill, showing that Kuhn was a philosophically sophisticated and self-aware writer. This highly original book will prove to be an eye-opener for many.' Jouni-Matti Kuukkanen, Leiden University, The Netherlands 'Read takes the account of Kuhn's account of science developed in the first part of the book and then applies that to a set of issues in the "human sciences" pioneered by philosophers like Schutz and Winch. Read's thinking on economics, psychology and more is distinctive, challenging and worthy of note. He incites the rethinking of both the tradition on which he draws and the issues that he uses it to address.' Wes Sharrock, University of Manchester, UK