Bloomsbury Subjectivity After Wittgenstein: The Post-Cartesian Subject and the "Death of Man" (Continuum Studies in British Philosophy)

Moving beyond Wittgenstein's much heralded responsibility for the "death of man" debate begun in the course of the previous century, Subjectivity after Wittgenstein constructs a positive Wittgensteinian account of subjectivity and human nature. Drawing on his later writings, the book ranges across Wittgenstein's writings on philosophy of psychology and religion to articulate his notion of the post-Cartesian subject. In addition, the book answers the oft-repeated arguments that the anti-Cartesian turn in continental thought on the subject has lead to a loss of a centre for both ethics and politics. By further exploring the implications of the Wittgensteinian account, Subjectivity after Wittgenstein makes clear that a non-Cartesian view on human being is not necessarily ethically and politically inert. It moreover argues that ethical and political arguments should not automatically take precedence in a debate about the nature of man. Review "Wittgenstein is widely acknowledged to have mounted a sustained and, if successful, devastating challenge to the view of human subjectivity that belongs to the traditional discourse of European modernity: the broadly 'Cartesian' view of Man as a rational thinking subject. But at what cost? Can we make sense of concepts central to contemporary ethics and politics - concepts of rights, of autonomy, and of responsibility in particular - if we do not retain that conception. Rejecting it can seem tantamount to a rejection of those central concepts. In this important new study Chantal Bax offers a compelling account of why a Wittgensteinian understanding of the fundamental sociality of the human subject encourages rather than discourages us to engage with questions at the heart of our ethical and political lives." - Simon Glendinning, Reader in European Philosophy, European Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK About the Author Chantal Bax is a visiting postdoc at Johns Hopkins University and the New School for Social Research, USA (2010/2011).