Bouwsma, O.K.

Bouwsma's Notes on Wittgenstein's Philosophy, 1965-1975

1995 0-7734-8885-5
Bouwsma's notes focus on sections of the Philosophical Investigations and Blue Book with the aim of helping a reader understand the unique insights which Wittgenstein brought to philosophy. Wittgenstein's writing is indirect, fragmented, and presupposes an occupation with specific philosophical problems. Established philosophers argue over the simplest interpretations, such as whether he was an empiricist, nominalist or skeptic. Bouwsma's work helps the reader appreciate Wittgenstein's insights. Bouwsma understands and can demonstrate how to apply Wittgenstein to the theories of other philosophers such as Descartes, Plato, and St. Augustine. This volume will be useful as a reference for philosophers and students working with the Philosophical Investigations and Blue Book.

O. K. Bouwsma’s Commonplace Book. Remarks on Philosophy and Education

2001 0-7734-7502-8
This edition of collected remarks (from the many thousands of pages of notebooks from 1950 to 1978) reflect Bouwsma’s concern with the role of philosophy in education, particularly liberal arts education and the role of reading literature in it. Entries on these and related subjects reflect Bouwsma’s engagement with Wittgenstein – his conversations with him and his reading of Wittegenstein’s philosophy. Over his fifty year teaching career, Bouwsma frequently discussed the value of teaching and studying literature, and kept track of such discussions in his notebooks. His views on this subject were always controversial and guaranteed a lively discussion. The editors have also included some additional general discussions of what a university education is, and some of his commentaries on contemporary society.