Bibliography of Books on or about or relevant to Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language


  • Ayer, A. J., Wittgenstein (New York: Random House, 1985). See Chapter 6 for a typically Ayeresque critique of Kripke's book.
  • Baker, G.P.and Hacker, P.M.S., Scepticism, Rules and Language (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1984).
  • ---- Wittgenstein: Rules, Grammar and Necessity (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1985).
  • Bilgrami, Akeel, Belief and Meaning: The Unity and Locality of Mental Content (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1992).
  • Bloor, David, Wittgenstein, Rules and Institutions (London: Routledge, 1997).
  • Canfield, John, (ed.), The Philosophy of Wittgenstein, Vol. 9 (New York: Garland Publishing, Inc.. 1986).
  • Canfield, John, (ed.), The Philosophy of Wittgenstein, Vol. 10 (New York: Garland Publishing, Inc.. 1986).
  • Chomsky, Noam, Knowledge of Language: Its Nature, Origin, and Use (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1986). Chapter 4 is arguably the most powerful critique of Kripke's book available in print.
  • Cook, John, Wittgenstein's Metaphysics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995). See Chapter 18, "Following a Rule".
  • Diamond, Cora, Realism and the Realistic Spirit (Cambridge, MA.: The M.I.T. Press, 1991). Chapter 1, "Realism and the Realistic Spirit", is a "reply of sorts" to Kripke.
  • Ebbs, Gary, Rule-Following and Realism (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997).
  • French, P., et. al. (eds.), Midwest Studies in Philosophy, Vol. XVII, The Wittgenstein Legacy (Notre Dame: Notre Dame Press, 1992).
  • George, Alexander, (ed.), Reflections on Chomsky (Oxford: Blackwell, 1989).
  • Goodman, Nelson, Fact, Fiction, and Forecast (Cambridge, MA.: Harvard, 1955).
  • Grayling, A.C., Wittgenstein (Past Masters Series) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988). Chapter 3, sections 3 and 4, give a very Kripkesque view of Wittgenstein's views on rule-following in PI.
  • Hacker, Peter, Insight and Illusion, Revised Edition (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986).
  • Hale, Bob and Wright, Crispin, (eds.), A Companion to the Philosophy of Language (Oxford: Blackwell, 1997).
  • Hintikka, Merrill and Jaakko, Investigating Wittgenstein (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1986).
  • Holtzman, Steven, and Leich, Christopher, Wittgenstein: To Follow A Rule (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981). A treasure trove of early work on rule-following.
  • Hume, David, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co., 1977).
  • Katz, Jerrold J., The Metaphysics of Meaning (Cambridge, MA.: The M.I.T. Press, 1990). See chapters 3 and 4 especially.
  • Malcolm, Norman, Nothing is Hidden (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1986). Chapter 9 of this book contains a very significant discussion of Kripke's account of Wittgenstein. Malcolm, unlike many, finds Kripke's account to have merit.
  • Martinich, A.P. (ed.)., The Philosophy of Language, 3rd edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996). See Section VIII.
  • McGinn, Colin, Wittgenstein on Meaning (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1984).
  • Miller, Alexander, and Wright, Crispin, Rule-Following and Meaning (U.K., Acumen Publishing, 2002).
  • Pears, David, The False Prison, Vol. 1 and 2 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986).
  • Pitcher, George, (ed.), Wittgenstein: The Philosophical Investigations", (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1968).
  • Puhl, Klaus, (ed.), Meaning Scepticism (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1991).
  • Quine, W.V., Word & Object (Cambridge, MA.: The M.I.T. Press, 1960).
  • Schiffer, Stephan, Remnants of Meaning (Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1987). Section 6.6 is titled, "Kripkenstein Meets the Remnants of Meaning".
  • Shanker, S.G., Wittgenstein and the Turning-Point in the Philosophy of Mathematics (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1987). See chapter 1, section 2.
  • Stern, David, Wittgenstein on Mind and Language (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995). See especially 6.3.
  • Suter, Ronald, Interpreting Wittgenstein: A Cloud of Philosophy, a Drop of Grammar (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1992). Chapter 12 is devoted to refuting Kripke's main points.
  • Werhane, Patricia, Skepticism, Rules and Private Languages (Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Humanities Press International Inc., 1992).
  • Wright, Crispin, Wittgenstein on the Foundations of Mathematics (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1980).

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Last modified Feb. 10, 2003
JAH, Professor
Dept. of Philosophy