Wittgenstein’s complex and demanding work challenges much that is taken for granted in philosophical thinking as well as in the theorizing of art, theology, science and culture. Each essay in this collection explores a key concept involved in Wittgenstein’s thinking, relating it to his understanding of philosophy, and outlining the arguments and explaining the implications of each concept. Concepts covered include grammar, meaning and meaning-blindness, language-games and private language, family resemblances, psychologism, rule-following, teaching and learning, avowals, Moore’s Paradox, aspect seeing, the meter-stick, and criteria. Students new to Wittgenstein and readers interested in developing their understanding of specific aspects of his philosophical work will find this book very welcome.

"None of the essays are technically difficult, and they are usually rich enough to make reading them well worth any effort and time they may require. This alone merits giving serious consideration to adopting a book like Wittgenstein: Key Concepts for classroom use. The collection is pedagogical in the best sense of the term. The essays aim not just to bring to light the central themes and 'key concepts' in Wittgenstein's corpus, but also to explore these topics in sometimes novel ways. The book certainly rivals, in my view, the collections of secondary material on Wittgenstein found in, for example, The Cambridge Companion to Wittgenstein. It surpasses a great many other collections, the titles of which, for politeness' sake, I will leave to the reader's imagination."

Source: Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews