Philosophical Investigations 28:2 April 2005 ISSN 0190-0536 From Metaphysics and Philosophical Theses to Grammar:Wittgenstein’s Turn Oskari Kuusela, University of Helsinki According to Wittgenstein, ‘The greatest danger that threatens the mind in philosophising comes from the metaphysical tendency that takes over it and completely topples the grammatical.’ 1 Clearly, he wishes to draw a distinction between his approach and metaphysical philosophy. But how exactly is this distinction to be understood? In Philosophical Investigations 2 §108 Wittgenstein talks about ‘turning our whole examination around’. These words, I suggest, characterise what constitutes a decisive methodological shift in his philosophy. This shift, ‘Wittgenstein’s turn’, marks a difference between his later philosophy and metaphysical philosophy, as well as explains the sense in which there are no theses, doctrines or theo- ries in his later philosophy. The turn may also be characterised as a passage from Wittgenstein’s early philosophy to his later philosophy, a passage from metaphysics to philosophy as conceptual investigation or from metaphysics to grammar. A central motivation behind the turn is to avoid dogmatism in philosophy. I will begin by discussing the Tractatus’ 3 attempt to disengage itself from metaphysical philosophy and its relapse to metaphysics. I will then proceed, through a study of Wittgenstein’s later characterisa- tions of metaphysical philosophy and his analysis of the Tractatus’ mistake to an examination of the notion of conceptual investigation as the description of language use. Having discussed the problem of © Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2005, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA. 1. Wittgenstein, L., Ms120, p. 136v in Wittgenstein’s Nachlass, The Bergen Electronic Edition, Oxford University Press 2000. Henceforth references to Wittgenstein’s Nach- lass are by manuscript/typescript number (Ms . . . or Ts . . .). In case no translation has been published the translation is mine. 2. Wittgenstein, L. Philosophical Investigations, Second Edition, Anscombe, G. E. M. and Rhees, R. (eds.), Blackwell, 1997. Henceforth PI. 3. Wittgenstein, L., Tractatus logico-philosophicus.Translated by Ogden, C. K., Rout- ledge & Kegan Paul, 1951, cf. 3.325. Henceforth TLP.