Stanley Cavell interviewed by Naoko Saito

Abstract In this interview with Naoko Saito, Stanley Cavell responds to questions about how he became interested in Wittgenstein and his sense of Wittgenstein’s fundamental importance for the question of what philosophy is or can be. Wittgenstein’s difference from Dewey and pragmatism is discussed in relation to the tone of philosophy, including possibilities of its not being characterized by polemical argument or geared towards problem-solving. This develops into a series of reflections on Emerson and Thoreau, as Cavell pursues these in The Senses of Walden. Similarly, some apparent similarities with, though in fact important differences from, Heidegger are considered, especially regarding the returning of philosophy to the ordinary and the finding of the ‘sublime in the pedestrian’. The conversation then turns to Wittgenstein’s alleged behaviourism: Cavell clarifies what he takes Wittgenstein to be opposing, and what endorsing, in conceptions of mind. Finally, a question is raised regarding the sounds of philosophy, in connection with religious inflections in Wittgenstein and with Cavell’s apparent receptiveness towards East Asian thought. The task of philosophy is identified as involving a kind of cultural criticism, understood as other than comparative philosophy or cultural studies. This involves finding the place you begin from, an exploration in which cross-cultural dialogue can play a significant role. The interview took place in November 1997 and was originally published in Japanese under the title ‘Return to the Ordinary: The Voice of Myself, and the Voice of America’, in Gendai Shiso, in a special issue on Wittgenstein. This is the first publication of the English text upon which the Japanese version was based.