UPD-Cambridge Lecture Series Year 3

[UPD-Cambridge Philosophy Lecture Series 2026: Session 3]

MEET THE SPEAKERS!

You’ve heard of the Early Wittgenstein and the Later Wittgenstein, but have you heard of the “Middle” Wittgenstein? Have you ever wondered what could have caused Wittgenstein to radically change his views? Could the Later Wittgenstein–generally considered to be the “better” of the two–have mistakenly abandoned some his earlier views which he shouldn’t have? What happened during those crucial years of his transition?

On Monday, 18 May 2026, from 5-7 PM on Zoom, Professor Michael Potter, one of the world’s leading experts on the History of Analytic Philosophy, Philosophy of Mathematics, Set Theory, and Logic, will be delivering a lecture entitled “Wittgenstein’s Blue Book”.

ABSTRACT:
Ludwig Wittgenstein is famous for two books, the Tractatus (published in 1922) and the Philosophical Investigations (published in 1953, after his death). His so-called “middle period” in the 1930s has been rather less studied. One work from this period, the Blue Book, stands out both for the way that he wrote it (in English rather than his usual German) and for the extent to which its subject matter differs from that of the later Investigations. I shall focus in this lecture on his discussion of what is involved in naming an object, a discussion which, I shall suggest, contains an interesting idea that he later lost sight of.

ABOUT THE LECTURER:
Michael Potter is Professor of Logic in the Philosophy Faculty at Cambridge University and a Life Fellow of Fitzwilliam College. He was previously at Oxford, where he took a D.Phil. in pure mathematics and was a Fellow of Balliol College. He spent periods of research leave in the Department of Logic and Metaphysics at St Andrews and the Department of Philosophy at Harvard. In 2004 and 2005 he was on research leave from Cambridge as a Senior Research Fellow at Stirling University funded by the AHRC.

His research interests lie mainly in the history of analytic philosophy (in particular Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein and Ramsey), the philosophy of mathematics, philosophical logic, the philosophy of language, and the philosophy of religion.

His books include Reason’s Nearest Kin (2000), Set Theory and its Philosophy (2004), Wittgenstein’s Notes on Logic (2010) and The Rise of Analytic Philosophy 1879-1930 (2020).

ABOUT THE REACTOR:
Lumberto (often called Sir Totoy by his students) is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Philosophy in the University of the Philippines Diliman. He took his PhD in Philosophy in University of Bergen and his MA Philosophy degree at UP Diliman. In both degrees, he worked on the philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein.

His MA thesis entitled, “Wittgenstein and Moral Universality”, was initially a conference paper that was presented at the Wittgenstein conference in Austria (in 2009). Arguing against Onora O’Neill’s portrayal of the later Wittgenstein as moral particularist, the thesis argued that Wittgenstein’s rule following considerations involved a reductio ad absurdo on forms of reasoning confined only to specific practices and that it is within that reductio that Wittgenstein’s appeal to the common behavior behavior of mankind (PI 206) emerges as a transcendental condition that allows for inclusive moral reasoning.

For his PhD, Lumberto worked with advisers Kevin Cahill and Richard Sorli to come up with a monograph entitled “Resolute Transcendentalism in the Later Wittgenstein”. Between those who say that Wittgenstein’s use of nonsense is empty (e.g. resolute readers like Stephen Mulhall) and those who say that those nonsense expresses metaphysical insights (e.g. transcendental readers like Jonathan Lear), Lumberto attempted to show a middle ground; i.e. a reading of the later Wittgenstein where the results of philosophical elucidation can lead to non-metaphysical philosophical insights.

Despite eventually being preoccupied with applied philosophy, like philosophy of science and bioethics, Lumberto continues to teach graduate courses on Wittgenstein and looks forward to being able to return to Wittgenstein research.

Register in the link below if you haven’t already: https://forms.gle/fMTPrF5oFqBcH4t38

Registration is free and open to the public!

For questions or clarifications, e-mail project head Mika Gana at [email protected] or Henry Fernando at [email protected].
Poster by Tati Inumerables

See you on Monday!

Source: UP Department of Philosophy Facebook