Wittgenstein, Ludwig
Wittgenstein, Ludwig
(Lecturer in philosophy at University of Cambridge, 1929-1939; professor and head of department since 1939. Author of Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 1922.
Apart from technical innovations in logical theory (notably in the discussion of tautology and probability), Wittgenstein’s main contribution to contemporary philosophy has been his demonstration of the importance of a study of language. The Tractatus is concerned chiefly to determine the conditions which any symbolism qua representation of fact, must necessarily satisfy. Such a “language” must consist of elements combined in such ways as to mirror in one-one correspondence the elements and structure of the “world”. A crucial distinction is made between “saying” (aussagen) and “showing” (zeigen); a statement is able to assert a certain state of affairs by virtue of having the same structure as that which it represents. The common structure, however, cannot itself be asserted, can only be shown in the symbols. Much philosophy is held to consist of trying to say what can only be shown, a misguided proceeding provoked by failure to understand “the logic of our language”. Certain mystical conclusions follow.
Wittgenstein’s doctrines were a major influence in the evolution of Logical Positivism (q.v.) though his later work is out of sympathy with that movement. Later lectures (in the form of unpublished mimeographed notes) embody a more relativistic approach to language, and are largely devoted to the inculcation of a therapeutic method directed against the perennial temptation to ask senseless questions in philosophy.
ReferencesRussell, Introduction to English edition of the Tractatus. J. Weinberg, Examination of Logical Positivism, Ch. 1. M. Black, “Some problems connected with language”, Proc. Aris. Soc., 39, 43. — M.B.