Wittgenstein, McDowell and Quietism

The first meeting of the Philosophy Society for this academic year will be held on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Erin Serracino Inglott Hall. Sandra Dingli will speak about "Wittgenstein, McDowell and Quietism".

Although the word quietism is rarely mentioned in philosophical literature, there appears to be general consensus that Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations presents one example of quietist philosophy. This is often linked to Wittgenstein's statement that "The real discovery is the one that makes me capable of stopping doing philosophy when I want to - the one that gives philosophy peace."

What is quietism and how effective is it in attaining peace for philosophy? This talk will discuss the subject of quietism through the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein and John McDowell in an attempt to come to grips with the meaning of this term and the implications which follow when it is used.

Ms Dingli lectures on Creative Thinking and Thinking Skills at the University of Malta. She co-ordinates the Edward de Bono Institute for the Design and Development of Thinking and organises regular international conferences on Creative Thinking. Four books with selected proceedings of the international conferences have been edited by her and published by the University of Malta.

She is also on the editorial board of Philosophical Writings, a journal published by the Department of Philosophy, University of Durham, England, where she is currently reading for a Ph.D.

Professor Peter Serracino Inglott will respond. Pizza and wine, at a nominal charge, will be served at the Farmhouse after the discussion. The public is cordially invited.