This book is a study of Wittgenstein's descriptive improvisational and performative art of
philosophical investigation. In addition to clarifying the nature of Wittgenstein's grammatical
investigations this study highlights several neglected aspects of his work: its humour and
playfulness its collaborative nature and its emphasis on the imagination. These aspects often
become distorted under the pressure of theory and argumentation resulting in interpretations
that equate grammatical investigation with confession therapy or a common sense view of the
world. After presenting Wittgenstein's art of investigation in part one this study challenges
these dominant and influential interpretations in part two.The volume examines Wittgenstein's
mottos forewords and dedications. It looks at the art of his philosophical and grammatical
investigations linking it to drama and improvisation. The book discusses the complexity and
subtlety of Wittgenstein's response to Augustine in the opening of the Investigations and
Wittgenstein's response to Moore's defence of common sense in On Certainty. The book also
examines three kinds of therapeutic readings: those that compare Wittgenstein's philosophy to
psychoanalysis those that compare his philosophy to therapy generally and those that describe
philosophy itself as an illness or as the cause of illness.
