Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) produced two commonly recognised stages of thought in 20th century analytic philosophy, both of which are taken to be central and fundamental in their respective periods. His early philosophy in the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, first published in 1921, provided new insights into relationships between the world, thought, language and the nature of philosophy by showing the application of modern logic to metaphysics via language. His later philosophy, mostly found
Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein [IPA 'l?dv?ç 'jo?z?f 'jo?hann 'v?tg?n?ta?n] (April 26, 1889 – April 29, 1951) was an Austrian philosopher who contributed several groundbreaking works to modern philosophy, primarily on the foundations of logic and the philosophy of language. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century. [1] Although numerous collections from Wittgenstein's notebooks, papers, and lectures have been published since his death, he published
Ludwig Wittgenstein once believed that language's function was to name objects and the meaning of language was found in the objects for which it stands. He later rejected this and centred on how language works and is used, believing that problems of religious language come from misunderstanding its usage. Wittgenstein was no longer concerned with the truth or falsity of language but the way it is used and the functions that it performs, as he said 'Don't ask for the meaning ask for the use
When one states something they usually feel as if it is completely certain. Author Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote “On Certainty” which is a series of notes; the author wrote these notes towards the end of his life. The series is about matters related to knowledge, doubt, and skepticism. Even though Wittgenstein notes were not organized, certain themes and preoccupations were present. He is usually addressed as one of the most misunderstood philosophers in history. Due to his method of philosophy, he was
Ludwig Wittgenstein was an Austrian-British philosopher who contributed significantly in the fields of mathematics, logic, and language. The work he contributed throughout his life can be split into two parts, his earlier and later work. Arguably his greatest contribution came from his earlier works, mostly from the “Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus”. According Biletzki, Wittgenstein “addresses the central problems of philosophy which deal with the world, thought and language, and presents a “solution”
I disagree with Ludwig Wittgenstein when he states that aesthetics “draws one’s attention to certain features, to place things side by side so as to exhibit these features” because of the logic that gives birth to the thoughts that led to this statement. This logic questions the ability of a person to ascertain what “beauty” is, what contains the quality known as “beauty”, and the levels of beauty and how they can be measured and compared. Wittgenstein uses the metaphor of games to illustrate
British empiricists and developed a new wave of philosophy focusing on logic and the structure of language. My goal for this paper is to provide an overview, and history of analytic philosophy through the points of view of Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Van Wittgenstein and touching briefly on their theories. Finally, I will offer my own critique on analytic philosophy as I believe the study of analytic philosophy plays a vital role in the development of new philosophy and language moving forward. The study
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) developed his interest in philosophy while studying aeronautical engineering at Manchester University. This interest was in the philosophy of pure mathematics and ultimately led him to Gottlob Frege, who advised him to go to Cambridge and study with Bertand Russell, in 1911 (Biletzki & Matar, 2011). This was the inception of Wittgenstein’s early philosophy, which lasted from 1911 – 1921. He joined the Austrian army at the start of World War I and was eventually taken
Kierkegaard and Wittgenstein The connections between Ludwig Wittgenstein and Soren Kierkegaard as philosophers are not at all immediately obvious. On the surface, Wittgenstein deals with matters concerning the incorrect use of philosophical language and Kierkegaard focuses almost exclusively on answering the question 'how to become a Christian'. But this account belies deeper structural similarities between these men's important works. Thus, this paper suggests that their methods, rather than
Metaphors With the possible exception of completely formal exercises in logic, philosophy is thoroughly metaphorical and largely conditional. Moreover, the purposes served by metaphors and conditionals in it are similar. Metaphors ask us to imagine the world in a new way, while conditionals may ask to imagine a new world. Yet some conditionals and metaphors are incompatible. There are limits to how metaphors can occur in conditionals, and how conditionals can themselves be metaphors. Specifically
Teaching and Otherness ABSTRACT: The later Wittgenstein uses children in his philosophical arguments against the traditional views of language. Describing how they learn language is one of his philosophical methods for setting philosophers free from their views and enabling them to see the world in a different way. The purpose of this paper is to explore what features of children he takes advantage of in his arguments, and to show how we can read Wittgenstein in terms of education. Two children in Philosophical
Reflections on the Analytic/Continental Divide My friends in the English department often ask me to explain the difference I so often talk about between analytic and continental philosophy. For some odd reason they want to relate our discipline with theirs in an effort, maybe, to understand both better. Thus, I welcome the opportunity offered by Schuylkill's general theme this year to give a very general and un-rigorous presentation on Philosophy, intended for the University Community at large
Bringing Up Play, Film, and Philosophy (1) Wittgenstein once said, “A typical America film, naive and silly, can for all its silliness and even by means of it— be instructive . . . I have often learnt from a silly American film.” (Wittgenstein 57e). He is pointing out that the humor, and the means of humor, in some films can be a tool of instruction. The ability of film to cause a reaction like laughter is of philosophical interest. While Wittgenstein’s comment is itself playful and
Objections To Russell's Theory of Belief: A Dialectical Reading ABSTRACT: In what follows, I give (following Burton Dreben) a dialectical reading of his dismissal of metaphysics and of Wittgenstein's objections to Russell in 1913. I argue that Wittgenstein must be read as advocating no particular theory or doctrine — that is, philosophy is an activity and not a body of truths. Furthermore, this insistence is thoroughgoing. Put differently, a dialectical reading must be applied to one's own thought
The Concept of Intelligence ABSTRACT: Gilbert Ryle’s dispositional analysis of the concept of intelligence makes the error of assimilating intelligence to the category of dispositional or semi-dispositional concepts. Far from being a dispositional concept, intelligence is an episodic concept that refers neither to dispositions nor to ‘knowing how,’ but to a fashion or style of proceeding whose significance is adverbial. Being derivative from the function of the adverb ‘intelligently,’ the concept
Fodor’s Misconstrual of Wittgenstein in the Language of Thought In his book, The Language of Thought, Jerry Fodor claims that i) Wittgenstein’s private language argument is not in fact against Fodor’s theory, and ii) Wittgenstein’s private language argument “isn’t really any good” (70). In this paper I hope to show that Fodor’s second claim is patently false. In aid of this I will consider Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations (243-363), Jerry Fodor's The Language of Thought (55-97)
Husserl, Carnap, Heidegger, and Wittgenstein ABSTRACT: Phenomenology and logical positivism both subscribed to an empirical-verifiability criterion of mental or linguistic meaning. The acceptance of this criterion confronted them with the same problem: how to understand the Other as a subject with his own experience, if the existence and nature of the Other's experiences cannot be verified. Husserl tackled this problem in the Cartesian Meditations, but he could not reconcile the verifiability
Bruner and Wittgenstein: Language Learning A crucial phase in the child's development comes with its acquisition of language, but before we can engage in any pedagogical efforts to further infant development or to aid atypical cases, we need to understand methodologically what occurs during language learning. Jerome Bruner, in a methodological adaptation of Ludwig Wittgenstein's middle and later work in an extension of Noam Chomsky's LAD, has put forth one influential proposal (Bruner 1983). Ludwig
Language Games, Writing Games - Wittgenstein and Derrida: A Comparative Study ABSTRACT: The concept of deconstruction was first used by Derrida in transforming Heideggerian "destruction." The deconstruction of Derrida is a textintern, intertextual, in-textual activity. He plays a double game inside of philosophy, emphasizing that our thinking is embedded in metaphysics, while at the same moment he questions metaphysics. Wittgenstein's deconstruction, however, involves a new kind of reading,
“Leonilla, Princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn” By Franz Xaver Winterhalter, 1843 Franz Xaver Winterhalter was born of peasant stock, in Mensenschwad, a small village in Germany’s Black Forest. His early training, as an apprentice in a studio in Freiburg, began when he was thirteen. He learned engraving and he supported himself as a lithographer, while he studied painting in Munich (nga, par.1). Even though he is known to be an academic painter, this seems to be a contradiction, as Webster’s Dictionary