Aesthetics and a Secondary Use of ‚Meaning‘? On Stephen Mulhall’s Vision of Wittgenstein

Abstract

Stephen Mulhall’s reading of Wittgenstein in Inheritance &
Originality and earlier in On being in the world
takes the remarks on aspect-perception and the ‘experience of meaning’ in
section xi of PI II to contain a major enhancement and revision of the
conception of language prevailing in part I of PI. After briefly sketching
Mulhall’s position two questions shall be discussed: 1) whether it can be argued
to meet the intentions of Wittgenstein’s text regarding its genesis and 2) is it
justified to object, as Justin Good does, that Mulhall’s notion of continuous aspect-perception exceeds the limits of
grammatical investigation and presents a metaphysical claim?