Questions tagged [wittgenstein]
Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein (1889 – 1951) was an Austrian-British philosopher, professor in philosophy at the University of Cambridge (1939-1947). He worked in foundations of mathematics and on mathematical logic, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He played a central, if controversial, role in 20th-century analytic philosophy.
298
questions
9
votes
3
answers
375
views
What did Wittgenstein mean by ”contradiction is the outer limit of propositions”?
I’ve been working my way through Wittgenstein’s Tractatus, and have been stuck on 5.143 all day. In full, the comment states:
“Contradiction is that common factor of propositions which no proposition ...
- 107
-2
votes
2
answers
113
views
On what grounds could Elizabeth Anscombe condemn the honoring of Truman, while she personally respected Wittgenstein? [closed]
Anscombe famously condemned Oxford's giving former President Truman an honorary degree in her pamphlet "Mr. Truman's Degree," on the ground that he violated an absolute moral rule against ...
- 173
7
votes
2
answers
533
views
How different is Wittgenstein's Language game from Contextuality?
Contextuality
Language game
Per Wittgenstein:
Words are missing essence
Meaning is use
The way I understood it, a word's meaning is decided by the language game it is part of.
This is either ...
- 5,123
4
votes
1
answer
65
views
What's the core argument in Kripke’s “Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language”?
I’ve had a first light read of Kripkenstein and want to work through identifying what the key claims are.
The text is relatively short, and appears to be structured as:
Introduction. A warm-up.
The ...
- 3,136
1
vote
2
answers
61
views
Are these two radically different kinds of psychological concepts one representing behavior (to mean) and the other cognitive (to understand)?
We could say that ChatGTP does not understand what it is saying, or anything whatsoever,but we can say it still means what it says. So "to mean" is not a same kind of a cognitive concept ...
0
votes
0
answers
37
views
An Analogy Between The Goal of the Tractatus and Formal Axiomatic Systems
After struggling with a few sections of the Tractatus, as well as the explanations of said sections is Monk's How to Read Wittgenstein and Glock's A Wittgenstein's Dictionary, I've come to a certain ...
- 169
1
vote
2
answers
69
views
What is a 'fact' for early Wittgenstein?
In a nutshell: what is meant by a 'fact' in Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus?
At the beginning of the text, it seems clear to me what Wittgenstein means by a 'fact', namely, a (real) state of affairs, ...
- 169
6
votes
8
answers
5k
views
Is there a paradox in the proof of Godel's incompleteness theorem? [closed]
The Gödel Incompleteness Theorem was a major discovery in modern logic that has consistently attracted the attention of scientific and philosophical circles.
However, since the Gödel Incompleteness ...
- 107
1
vote
1
answer
112
views
Image of Köhler's hexagons mentioned in Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations?
I was wondering whether anyone could help me find an image of Köhler's intepenetrating hexagons as mentioned in Part II, section xi of the Philosophical Investigations (3rd edition of Anscombe's ...
- 31
1
vote
1
answer
58
views
Wittgenstein and formal relations
We can speak in a certain sense of formal properties of objects and atomic facts, or of properties of the structure of facts, and in the same sense of formal relations and relations of structures.
(...
- 927
5
votes
3
answers
227
views
Discussion about Graham Priest's dialetheic views on Eastern and Western philosophy
Australian philosopher Graham Priest is famous for advocating Dialetheism, the view that there are true contradictions. Dialetheism goes against the law of non-contradiction. This gives rise to the ...
- 253
1
vote
0
answers
61
views
Wittgenstein's Tractatus, 2.15121
Some context from Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus:
2.151 The form of representation is the possibility that the things are combined with one another as are the elements of the picture.
2.1511 Thus ...
- 41
2
votes
3
answers
135
views
Logical form, Wittgenstein
The question is going to be about TLP, not Philosophical investigations.
I know that a logical form of a proposition can't be represented in the proposition itself.
But can it be represented by the ...
- 927
5
votes
3
answers
146
views
Wittgenstein and the possibility of expressing a logical form
Why did Wittgenstein in TLP considered the "logic of facts" and a logical form inexpressible?
If I'm not mistaken, he himself a lot of times was trying to describe a logical form in his work....
- 927
2
votes
1
answer
81
views
Wittgenstein, 4.063
An illustration to explain the concept of truth. A black spot on white paper; the form of the spot can be described by saying of each point of the plane whether it is white or black. To the fact that ...
- 927
0
votes
0
answers
51
views
The logic of facts
The possibility of propositions is based upon the principle of the representation of objects by signs.
My fundamental thought is that the “logical constants” do not represent. That the logic of the ...
- 927
0
votes
1
answer
75
views
Wittgenstein on sense
What's sense according to Wittgenstein?
I think I might have missed the definition in TLP, but I can't find it anywhere.
From the context it's obvious that Wittgenstein's sense isn't that of Frege. ...
- 927
0
votes
1
answer
68
views
Wittgenstein and the primary elements
What does it mean to say that we can attribute neither being nor non-being to the elements? One might say: if everything that we call “being” and “non-being” consists in the obtaining and non-...
- 927
23
votes
9
answers
8k
views
Does the success of AI (Large Language Models) support Wittgenstein's position that "meaning is use"?
By 'success' we think of current AI/LLMs capacity of producing text that is regarded as coherent, informative, even convincing, by human readers [see for instance Spitale et al. and Salvi et al.]
...
- 1,844
4
votes
3
answers
653
views
Wittgenstein and tautology
What does it mean to say that we can attribute neither being nor
non-being to the elements? One might say: if everything that we call
“being” and “non-being” consists in the obtaining and non-...
- 927
3
votes
1
answer
92
views
René Descartes' and Wittgenstein Doubt: Self and the Existence of Others?
Can one doubt their own existence in the world while simultaneously doubting the existence of others? If one's being isn't present because they aren't present themselves, wouldn't that make it ...
0
votes
0
answers
32
views
Are Wittgenstein's aesthetic and ethical claims during the Tractatus period meant to be descriptive or prescriptive?
Are Wittgenstein's aesthetic and ethical claims during the Tractatus period meant to be descriptive or prescriptive? I read it, followed the argument and forgot most of it, but I can recall that ...
- 2,701
0
votes
0
answers
34
views
Can this argument for particularism be applied to egoism?
https://wab.uib.no/agora/tools/alws/collection-8-issue-1-article-5.annotate
how can we hold on to moral principles in the face of the seeming impossibility to formulate a moral principle which is ...
- 2,701
0
votes
2
answers
83
views
Private language argument as an argument against the self and so egosim
“The words of this language are to refer to what only the speaker can
know — to his immediate private sensations. So another person cannot
understand the language.”... Immediately after introducing ...
- 2,701
1
vote
2
answers
103
views
Wittgenstein's chess example
When one shows someone the king in chess and says “This is the king”, one does not thereby explain to him the use of this piece a unless he already knows the rules of the game except for this last ...
- 927
9
votes
9
answers
4k
views
The problem of philosophy?
“The problem of philosophy is a linguistic problem, and every disagreement can be traced back to a difference in interpretation.”
“No wonder we know that the deepest problems are not really problems ...
- 329
1
vote
1
answer
78
views
Can ideas be perfectly illustrated using non-mathematical language?
Reading through many philosophy forums it seems like many ideas get bogged down in the definitions of ideas which seem to go down an endless spiral of caveats and contradictions depending on who ...
- 177
0
votes
2
answers
104
views
Is private language argument against absolute idealism?
Wittgenstein famously proposed that private language is an incoherent notion. Does this refute some version of idealism which claims that the reality is totally mind-dependent ?
For me an argument ...
- 319
3
votes
1
answer
145
views
Does the private language argument conflict with monotheism?
This blog post opposes the PLA to unitarianism (the belief in only one divine person), which is mostly a parochial, intra-Christian objection that, if generalized over other religions, seems like it ...
- 18.4k
2
votes
1
answer
327
views
Is there a difference between an I-private and a we-private language?
Alternatively, is the privacy clause in the argument relative? So to say, imagine two people A and B looking at a patch of blue together, while standing next to someone C who's blind. A says to B, &...
- 18.4k
5
votes
3
answers
679
views
Can we conclude from Wittgenstein that all philosophy shows just as well that all philosophy is nonsense?
There's been a lot of skeptical questions recently, about knowledge, god, probability, other minds, all sorts of crazy stuff (I'm still waiting for "nothing is true")
Can we conclude from ...
user67675
5
votes
5
answers
524
views
How serious are believers in the private language argument?
From time to time I come across people who endorse Wittgenstein's notion that language is a fundamentally public activity, and that a private language would be meaningless.
I always feel somewhat ...
- 16.5k
1
vote
2
answers
98
views
What is the crux of Wittgenstein’s PLA?
I’m reading Appiah’s Thinking it Through and I am having a little bit of trouble understanding grasping his statement of the crux of the private language argument(s). In particular, I don't understand ...
- 191
3
votes
1
answer
152
views
The private language argument and Descartes's private thoughts
In his "Thinking it Through" textbook, Appiah writes
It is a big step from saying that some of our mental states are things that other people can know about, to saying, with the ...
- 191
0
votes
1
answer
71
views
Going against the limits of language
I vaguely remember a sentence of Wittgenstein which was about the duty of philosophy: that is, to go against the limits of the language. This was in his late period of philosophy.
What is the precise ...
- 117
1
vote
0
answers
76
views
Is mysticism a confusion of language?
Is mysticism a confusion of language, in Wittgenstein's sense? You'd have thought it was, especially if it makes any positive claims. But does it not ever "show" things, ever?
user66760
4
votes
1
answer
115
views
Wittgenstein on indeterminate boundaries
Wittgenstein, for instance, urged that “an indefinite boundary is not
really a boundary at all” (1953: 45e).
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/vagueness/
What did he make of the Sorites paradox, ...
user66697
2
votes
3
answers
157
views
How would Wittgenstein explain the ability of blind people to learn a language?
It we take Wittgensteins picture theory of language for granted,
The picture theory of meaning states that statements are meaningful if, and only if, they can be defined or pictured in the real world
...
- 2,266
1
vote
2
answers
143
views
"This seems to abolish logic, but does not do so."
If language is to be a means of communication there must be agreement
not only in definitions but also (queer as this may sound) in
judgements. This seems to abolish logic, but does not do so. -- It ...
- 169
2
votes
1
answer
201
views
Was Wittgenstein a mathematical finitist?
Wittgenstein was a notorious critic of set theory, calling it "laughable nonsense". However, he also wholeheartedly rejected intuitionist logic of Brouwer and Weyl, saying "it is ...
- 1,483
1
vote
2
answers
390
views
What was Wittgenstein's real motive for wanting to move to Russia?
Ludwig Wittgenstein was no doubt a fascinating genius who was also very mysterious. He was known for doing outrageous things that no one saw coming, and there is one episode in particular that I find ...
- 1,483
2
votes
5
answers
241
views
Can we reduce Wittgenstein's claims of human language being limited by some actual propositions about the limits of language?
Wittgenstein argued that there are limits to what language can do, and that our attempts to use language to describe the world can sometimes lead us into confusion and error. He believed that many ...
user37389
1
vote
1
answer
103
views
Does Wittgenstein's picture theory contradict Frege's theory of Sinn and Bedeutung?
The picture theory of meaning states that statements are meaningful if, and only if, they can be defined or pictured in the real world.
The very notion of meaning as used here is argued against by ...
- 2,266
-1
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Can you be objectively offended?
Example:
Person A is talking to person B and uses a phrase that B is offended by. Person A is unapologetic because they personally don't take offense to that phrase and feel taking offense to it is ...
1
vote
1
answer
149
views
What does argument 4.0411 in the TLP mean?
This whole paragraph 4.0411 in the TLP makes no sense(in the non-Wittgenstein sense :D ) to me and I will quote it and add my questions.
If, for example, we wanted to express what we now write as ‘(x)...
- 13
0
votes
2
answers
334
views
Wittgenstein like analysis of Carl Jung's work?
So I've been skeptical of Jung's ideas. More so because one of the philosophical moves Wittgenstein makes is: considering the possibility that just because you can grammatically string a bunch of ...
- 2,285
2
votes
1
answer
153
views
Help needed in understanding an excerpt from PI (Section 509)
What if we asked someone, “In what sense are these words a description of what you see?” — and he answers: “I mean this by these words.” (Perhaps he was looking at a landscape.) Why is this answer “I ...
- 413
19
votes
8
answers
6k
views
Is "This sentence is written in English" nonsense?
Wittgenstein and many others have said that our language gives the appearance of truth to some nonsense.
Do you think the very simple "This sentence is written in English." is such nonsense ...
- 360
8
votes
3
answers
889
views
Neo-liberalism, language and freedom?
Background
Byung Chulhan in his book psychopolitics defines freedom in two ways:
a. He defines it as an interlude which the subject feels when passing between lifestyles or ideologies. This is a ...
- 2,285
3
votes
2
answers
372
views
What does the emergence of different interpretations of Wittgenstein signify?
So I was listening to this Podcast about Wittgenstein the speakers are the Professor of Philosophy of University of South Hampton - Ray Monk, Senior Lecturer of University of York - Mary Macgin and ...
- 2,285