Edmund Dain
Professor
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Education:
Ph.D. - Cardiff University
Area(s) of Expertise:
My research focuses on the interpretation and application of Wittgenstein’s philosophy in connection with a range of problems in Ethics and Metaethics, Epistemology, Philosophical Anthropology, Philosophy of Language, and Philosophy of Mind and Psychology. I also have a long-standing interest in Ancient Greek thought and literature. My current work focuses on the following three main projects. (1) Wittgenstein: My work on Wittgenstein aims to think through the implications of Wittgenstein’s central insight into the nature of philosophical problems, and his disavowal of philosophical theories or theses in favor of description — description of the uses of words, and of the ways in which philosophical problems arise from our confusions about the uses of words. My aim throughout is therefore to present a picture of Wittgenstein that is undogmatic in the way that he constantly sought to be. The picture that emerges is one that stands in contrast to the picture of Wittgenstein that is familiar from much of the secondary literature, where he is presented precisely as having held certain dogmatic theses about language, meaning, and the mind, for instance. My aim is therefore also to counteract that picture of Wittgenstein, and in doing so to show the uniqueness of his thought, and the promise it still holds out to us in our attempts to overcome philosophical confusion. (2) Ethics: My work on ethics aims to rethink the possibilities open to ethics and ethical thought through Wittgenstein’s work. I argue that Wittgenstein’s claim that there can be no ethical propositions follows directly from the widely held view, familiar at least since Plato, that value is not arbitrary, and I show how in Wittgenstein’s work this claim leads to a radical rethinking of what ethics itself involves. Ethics, for Wittgenstein, like logic, is not a separate subject matter of a subset of propositions. It is, rather, internal to propositions. (3) The Mind: My work on the mind focuses on a range of interrelated problems concerning the nature of the mind, our concept of a human being, and our knowledge of other minds. I argue for conception of the mind and the human being that gives a central role to our attitudes, conceived in terms of our basic modes of response, in constituting those concepts, and I use that conception as a means of undermining the traditional problem of other minds. Moreover, I argue that we can, in many cases, simply perceive - see, or hear, or even feel - others’ mental states.
Awards and Honors:
Joseph R Accinno Teaching Award 2021-22 Providence College
Werner and Elizabeth Leinfeller Award for Best Paper Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein Society
Selected Publications:
Dain, E. (2021) Sympathy for the Devil: The Puzzle of Imaginative Resistance, the Role of Fiction in Moral Thought, and the Limits of the Imagination. Philosophy.(96), 253-275.
Dain, E. (2019) In T. Wallgren, J. Backström, H. Nykänen, and N. Toivakainen (Ed.), An Attitude towards a Soul: Wittgenstein, Other Minds and the Mind. Palgrave Macmillan
Dain, E. (2019) Wittgenstein, Mindreading and Perception. European Journal of Philosophy.1-18.
Dain, E. (2019) Zalabardo on Wittgenstein and the Unity of the Proposition. Australasian Philosophical Review.(3),
Dain, E. (2018) In Reshef Agam-Segal and Edmund Dain (Ed.), Wittgenstein's Moral Thought. London and New York: Routledge
Dain, E. Agam-Segal, R. (2018) Wittgenstein's Moral Thought. London and New York: Routledge
Dain, E. (2017) Remarks on Perception and Other Minds. Nordic Wittgenstein Review.(6), 31-45.
Dain, E. (2016) Do we believe in other minds?. Contributions of the Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein Society.(39), 45-47.
Dain, E. (2015) Review of Chon Tejedor, The Early Wittgenstein on Metaphysics, Natural Science, Language and Value. Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews.
Dain, E. (2014) Eliminating Ethics: Wittgenstein, Ethics, and the Limits of Sense. Philosophical Topics.(42), 1-12.
Dain, E. (2012) Ethical Eliminativism and the Sense of Wittgenstein's Tractatus. Contributions of the Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein Society.(35), 49-50.
Dain, E. (2012) Projection and Pretence in Ethics. Philosophical Papers.(41), 180-208.
Dain, E. Conant, J. (2011) In R. Read and M. Lavery (Ed.), Throwing the Baby Out. London and New York: Routledge
Dain, E. (2008) Wittgenstein, Contextualism and Nonsense. Journal of Philosophical Research.(33), 101-125.
Selected Presentations:
Dain, E. . , University of Stavanger, Norway - "Why Philosophy? Why Now? Philosophy, Freedom and Democracy" , 2019
Dain, E. 7th Regional Wittgenstein Workshop. , Morgantown, WV - "Wittgenstein and Mindreading" October, 2016
Dain, E. 39th International Ludwig Wittgenstein Symposium. , Kirchberg am Wechsel, Austria - "Do we believe in other minds?" August, 2016
Dain, E. Xth National / VIIth International Wittgenstein Symposium: Wittgenstein, Knowledge and Skepticism. University of Campinas, Brazil - "An Attitude towards a Soul: Wittgenstein on Belief in Other Minds" October, 2015
Dain, E. A Science of the Soul? Philosophy, Ethics, & the Mind. , University of Helsinki, Finland - "An Attitude Towards a Soul: Wittgenstein, Other Minds, and the Mind" October, 2014
Dain, E. . , University of Bergen, Norway - "Ethics Without Propositions" May, 2014
Dain, E. The Wittgenstein Workshop. University of Chicago, Chicago, IL - "Eliminating Ethics" October, 2013
Dain, E. Communication Breakdowns in Philosophy. Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Study, University of Helsinki, Finland - "Communication Breakdowns: A Response" May, 2013
Dain, E. The Importance of Ordinary Language Philosophy. Nordic Wittgenstein Society, Abo Akademi, Turku, Finland - "The Normativities of Meaning" May, 2013
Dain, E. Wittgenstein in Relation to Philosophical Traditions. , Lichtenberg Kolleg, University of Goettingen, Germany - "Wittgenstein, Ethics, and the Limits of Sense" May, 2013
Dain, E. 35th International Ludwig Wittgenstein Symposium . Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein Society, Kirchberg am Wechsel, Austria - "Ethical Eliminativism and the Sense of Wittgenstein's Tractatus" August, 2012
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