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.
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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 ...
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Why do philosophical questions arise?
I've been reading questions and answers in this site for a while, and I've come to the idea that philosophical questions arise mainly in a response to a psychological need, like having a cognitive ...
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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 ...
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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, &...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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If "the limits of my language are the limits of my world", then how can it be that "what can be shown, cannot be said"?
I'm trying to understand Wittgenstein, but two of his most oft quoted statements seem to me to be implying contradicting things. I understand that later Wittgenstein did refute a lot of his earlier ...
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Wittgenstein: Why is bipolarity necessary?
I do get that for a certain proposition there may be the possibility of it being either true or false, but why must this possibility exist for every proposition?
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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?
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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, ...
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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
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"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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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What are Ludwig Wittgenstein's greatest accomplishments?
I have heard a lot about Ludwig Wittgenstein, but what are his greatest accomplishments? I tried looking up on Wikipedia but didn't understand much.
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Do mainstream philosophers believe that Wittgenstein "solved" philosophy?
After finishing his first work, Wittgenstein left philosophy, thinking that he "solved" all philosophical problems. He is now considered one of the most important philosophers of the 20th century, if ...
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Why isn't "Philosophical Investigations'" style the norm?
As some of you may know (I tend to discuss and talk quite a bit with you fine folk on this topic), I attend a local gathering of people who wish to discuss (somewhat) simple topics of philosphy. It's ...
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Relationship between early Wittgenstein and late Wittgenstein
I think most books treat his early and late theories as inconsistent theories, in a sense that one can agree on either his early or late theory, but not both. However, I think the two theories are ...
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What did Wittgenstein (mean to) achieve in the Tractatus?
I read the Tractatus about a decade ago, and was impressed, both by it and I suppose myself! But suddenly I'm seriously wondering what the book has or could achieve. Not so much how it changed ...
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Should Wittgenstein be given some credit for Godel's incompleteness theorem?
Is there a connection between Wittgenstein's argument against the "Theory of Types" and the proof of Godel's Incompleteness Theorem? Being only semi-knowledgeable, I will draw the connection of which ...
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What criticisms of Wittgenstein's philosophy of language have been offered?
In a 2003 obituary, Anna Sherrat described one of my many philosophy heroes, Donald Davidson, as “one of the greatest American philosophers.” She did an excellent job of summarizing one of the ...
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How do Anscombe and Wittgenstein view psychology?
G. E. M. Anscombe wrote this at the beginning of Modern Moral Philosophy where she claimed that one should not do moral philosophy today:
...that should be laid aside at any rate until we have an ...
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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 ...
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What motivates Wittgenstein’s declaration of the world as the totality of facts?
The world is everything that is the case.
I understand “the case” to merely be an informal way of saying “that which is true”.
1.1 The world is the totality of facts, not of things.
I am curious if ...
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Why does Wittgenstein say Schopenhauer has a crude mind?
"One could call Schopenhauer an altogether crude mind. I.e., he does have refinement, but at a certain level this suddenly comes to an
end & he is as crude as the crudest. Where real depth ...
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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 ...
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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)...
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Tractatus Proposition 1 -- nominal or real?
In Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, the opening proposition can be read as a definition:
The world is everything that is the case.
As such, which kind of definition is it: nominal, or ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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What did Wittgenstein mean by "Light dawns gradually over the whole."?
I agree with Wittgenstein that "we seldom learn new propositions piecemeal; rather we acquire propositional knowledge in holistic clusters". When I study math from a textbook, I definitely ...
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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 ...
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Wittgenstein's solipsist, from Tractatus?
According to the early Wittgenstein of the Tractatus, the solipsist is one and one and the same with the world. He then makes the claim that solipsism coincides with realism.
5.64, Wittgenstein ...
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Please explain Wittgenstein's views on ethics?
In Lecture on Ethics Wittgenstein said
I at once see clearly, as it were in a flash of light, not only that
no description that I can think of would do to describe what I mean by
absolute value, but ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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Is Wittgenstein's proposition "the world is a collection of facts not things" similar to Hegel's claim that objects are not things but forces?
They both seem to suggest that objects are not defined by their discrete appearances but rather by the conceptual framework which allows us to perceive them. In case of Wittgenstein the world is all ...
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Can set theory be non-extensional?
Here is Juliet Floyd stating "Wittgenstein's non-extensionalism, like Russell's in Principia, precluded development of an extensional theory of the infinite (set theory). https://youtu.be/...
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Does Wittgenstein rule-following mean everything is defined as what a human is supposed do with it? What does it say about ontology?
To me rule-following is a very “homespun” way to explain logic, math, and language. Meaning the social-communicative aspect of “rule-following” provides an explanation for informal and formal language ...
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What was Wittgenstein's view on happiness?
I was wondering whether Wittgenstein is a proponent of happiness being central to a life well lived. Generally, from Ronald Suter's article and what I've read about him, Id wager the answer is yes. ...
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Where and from whom can I learn about Wittgenstein's family resemblance?
After reading the relevant Wikipedia article as well as the relevant Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article, I still feel like I need a gentle introduction to Wittgenstein's Philosophical ...
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Is there true and false poetic fancy?
Concerning the famous phrase of Wittgenstein "whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent", we can confidently speak and say, e.g., that gravity varies with the inverse square of ...
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What is the correct Wittgenstein analysis of this claim?
So I'm confused by the following. Let's say someone makes the claim:
Math is also a language game.
I can imagine 2 different kind of responses Wittgenstein might say:
Indeed, it suffices to only ...
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Why was Russell discontent with Wittgenstein's view on "logic as tautologies"?
While reading Logicomix, I came across a scene that I don't quite understand.
Russell: ...Logicians are creating elaborate ways to "say the same things in different words"...this "...
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Was Wittgenstein anticipating Gödel?
The Tractatus 6.123:
6.123 Clearly the laws of logic cannot in their turn be subject to laws of logic. (There is not, as Russell thought, a special law of contradiction for each 'type'; one law is ...
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Does the second Wittgenstein still consider philosophical questions to be meaningless?
In his logico-philosophical treatise, if I have understood correctly, Wittgenstein proposes a demonstration of the fact that philosophical questions are not real problems but the result of ...
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Introductory lectures to Wittgenstein's ideas
can anyone recommend me a course on YouTube that explains the ideas of Ludwig Wittgenstein in an introductory manner. Thank you
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