Knowledge Tree

Author: von Wright
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-01-01
Features: Frontiers of Academia: The Tree of Knowledge was published by Life & Mind Press. Although in terms of my skills, I have learned more from Wittgenstein than from anyone else, I cannot almost call my own way of thinking Wittgensteinian. I once told my other philosophy mentor, Morgan, that I always recognized the excellence and overwhelming power of Wittgenstein's thinking, but I couldn't follow his example in my own work. — von Wright
My focus on action explanation and intentionality led me to the field of philosophy of mind, which is renowned for its deep tradition. Its main question has always been the relationship between the mind and the body (or the world), and Descartes' philosophy set the tone for it. Since the mid-1980s, much of my work on this issue has been carried out within the context that Descartes established. But it has become an effort to find a way to break free from the "shadow of Descartes" — von Wright