Introduction

Wittgenstein is still routinely hailed as one of, perhaps the most, important and influential of 20th-century philosophers, and his work continues to generate a great deal of scholarly debate and literature. For example, John Searle, interviewed recently in the magazine New Philosopher, though characterizing his own work as ‘profoundly anti-Wittgensteinian’ nevertheless stated that: “Wittgenstein was the greatest philosopher of the 20th century”. 1 Moreover, many of the most prestigious living philosophers, currently working in some of the most highly-respected departments-e.g., Robert Brandom, John McDowell, Crispin Wright, Daniel Dennett, Simon Blackburn, Paul Horwich, Penelope Maddy, Richard Moran, Barry Stroud, Huw Price, and others-explicitly acknowledge their Wittgensteinian sympathies. Yet while substantial numbers of articles and monographs on his philosophy continue to be produced, Wittgenstein’s thought (or Wittgensteinian philosophy, more broadly) often seems absent from philosophical debates where the agenda has been set by various forms of naturalism.