Wittgenstein, Bartley, and the Glöckel School Reform

NOTES AND DISCUSSIONS 453 tion and its immediate effect; he appreciates that we are often not aware of the bodily movements and muscular contractions involved in our actions and he realizes that the object of volition may be something quite distant. ~8Thus, although Hart's case against Brown and Austin is wholly convincing, he has done nothing to undermine volitional theories of action as such. Indeed, it is paradoxical that the Brown-Austin theory should have been treated as a standard case of a volitional theory of action. Both Brown and Austin thought that the great merit of their theory was precisely that it did away with the mysterious entities called volitions. Their attempt to dispose of these entities leads to the conclusions Hart finds so unsatisfactory. So those modern critics of volitions who have used the Brown-Austin theory as a target, without paying adequate attention to its historical context, have been attacking a would-be St. George rather than an authentic dragon. R. F. STALLEY University of Glasgow WITTGENSTEIN, BARTLEY, AND THE GLt)CKEL SCHOOL REFORM I. Introduction In several articles and one book, W. W. Bartley, III has claimed (1) that Wittgenstein was an active participant in the Austrian, or G16ckel, School Reform Movement, and (2) that this involvement significantly influenced Wittgenstein's later philosophy as well as the subsequent course of Anglo-American philosophy generally. ~I argue that it is unlikely that either of these theses is true. As far as the first is concerned, Bartley emphasizes evidence that is necessary, but not sufficient, and disregards other considerations that point away from his thesis. With regard to the second, he fails to establish the relevance of Wittgenstein's life as a school teacher--let alone as a school reformer--to his later philosophical writings. I focus on Bartley's first claim with only brief mention of the second. II. Wittgenstein as a School Reformer Selbsttdtigkeit and Arbeitschule. Bartley's strongest evidence is Wittgenstein's use of some school reform terminology--specifically, Selbsttdtigkeit and Arbeitschule. The first, literally meaning "self-activity," refers to the school reform principle of learning by doing. The second means "Work School" and was a slogan used to distinguish the school reform I wish to express my appreciation for the help of the following individuals and institutions Erich Heintel, Renate Chnstensen, Heinz and Gertrude liming, Adolph Htibner, Rudolf Koder, Norbert Rosner, Franz Schiller, Hans Plass, Maria Angerler Traht, Ludwig Lang, Lulse Hausmann, Joseph Achleitner, Maria Czora, Friednch Umreich, Hermann Hansel, llse Helblch, Thomas Stonborough, Rush Rhees, B. F. McGumess, Karl Popper Ralmund Lorenzoni, the PhilosophlschesInstitut-Universitat Wien, the Mus~sch-PaedagogischesBundesgymnaslum , and the Landesschulrat fiir Niederosterreich. Th~spaper is based on research undertaken as a "'Gasthorer" at the University of Vienna m 1974-75. An earlier version of this paper was presented at Washington Umversity in 1977. William Warren Bartley, 111, Wittgenstein (Phdadelphia and New York: J. B. Ltppincott Co., 1973); "Sprach-und Wissenschaftstheorie als Werkzeuge einer Schulreform," Conceptus 3 (1969):6-22, "Die 6sterrelchlscheSchulreform als die Wlege der moderne Phflosophle," Club Voltatre 4 (1970) :349-96; "Theory of Language and Philosophy of Science as Instruments of Educational Reform: Wittgenstein and Popper as Austrian Schoolteachers," in Boston Studies in the Phdosophy of Science. vol. 14 (Dordrecht and Boston: D. Reidel, 1974), pp 2-32. 454 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY approach from earlier methods--Drillschule ("Drill School"), which emphasized drill without advance preparation, and Lernschule ("Learning School"), which stressed memorization . In opposition to Bartley's claim, Wittgenstein's close friend and former colleague, Director Rudolf Koder, has insisted emphatically that Wittgenstein used this terminology simply because it was "in the air," and not because of any interest in the school reform movement as such. 2Koder's position is supported by a look at the textbooks Wittgenstein used in the pedagogical classes at the teachers college. ~Both books employ school reform terminology to some degree, demonstrating that Wittgenstein would have been exposed to the terms Selbsttiitigkeit and Arbeitschule, and presumably would have come to use them on occasion, whether or not the socialists had come to power in the spring of 1919 and turned control of the Ministry of Education over to school reformers. Since the...