Wittgenstein’s Rule-following from the Perspective of Therapeutic Philosophy

Abstract

    When we read Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations, we often feel baffled because it is difficult to draw out a systematic theory from the text. Given this exegetical problem, it is often said that Wittgenstein never intends to propound any theory; rather his aim of philosophy is therapeutic.
    The problem of rule-following has been most often argued among the topics in the Investigations. Most of approaches to the problem, however, are not therapeutic but constructive. The purpose of this paper is to examine the problem of rule-following from a perspective of therapeutic philosophy.