ABSTRACT. The "new Wittgenstein" coalesces around a series of common interpretive protocols: Wittgenstein is not advancing theories in metaphysics but employing a therapeutic method; he is helping us to work free of the confusions that become evident when we begin to philosophize; at the same time, Wittgenstein is disabusing us of the notion that we can stand outside language and command an external view, and; that such an external view is both necessary and possible for grasping the essence of thought and language.