Wittgenstein’s “Inner and Outer”: Overcoming Epistemic Asymmetry

Tero Tapio Vaaja

Abstract


I offer a reading of those Wittgenstein’s late writings on psychology which, using his terminology, concern the theme of “inner and outer”. I identify three forms of epistemic asymmetry between a subject’s own mind and other minds, discussing Wittgenstein’s treatment of each of these in turn. I intend to show that Wittgenstein is not identifying or solving any single epistemic or conceptual problem of other minds, but criticizing the very general assumption that there is a unique first-personal access to one’s own mind that makes third-personal knowledge epistemically inferior. I conclude by a brief discussion of how my reading enables to understand better Wittgenstein’s relation to behaviorism.

Keywords


20th century philosophy; Wittgenstein Ludwig; other minds; knowledge; subjectivity; inner and outer; certainty

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References


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