Date of Award
8-1974
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Philosophy
Supervisor
Professor Evan Simpson
Abstract
An exposition of Wittgenstein's arguments against the possibility of a private language is given with the hope of making the arguments clearer. It is shown that because of the impossibility of a private language and because of the impossibility of words having private references in a public language, the notion of a private experience is unintelligible. The last chapter shows that a positive account of what sensations are is given in the Philosophical Investigations, which manages to avoid the impossibility of a private act of naming and also avoids the untenability of behaviorism.
Recommended Citation
Graves, Peter, "The Private Language Argument" (1974). Open Access Dissertations and Theses. Paper 482.
http://digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca/opendissertations/482