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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How should we read Tractatus' proposition 6.4311?
How should we read Tractatus' proposition 6.4311?
Death is not an event of life. Death is not lived through.
If by eternity is understood not endless temporal duration but timelessness, then he ...
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The rule-following paradox : where is it?
There has already been a topic about this alleged paradox, from Wittgenstein: how can one know how to follow a rule, when any action can be made to agree with the rule ?
The example mostly given to ...
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Discussion of alleged Wittgenstein quote about proof in philosophy
I have been told that Ludwig Wittgenstein claimed that a good philosopher can "prove" or "disprove" anything and therefore that the entire pursuit of philosophy is completely null. However, I was also ...
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What book recommendations for learning Hegel and Wittgenstein?
I'm currently interested in Hegel's Dialectic and Wittgenstein works.
I'm mostly looking for things related to logic, language and the foundation of mathematics.
What do you think I should read from ...
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What is the Fregeian meaning of "grasping"?
Frege holds in Der Gedanke that the Thought is the unity of existence because he considers Thought and proposition to be the very same thing, and our cognition of non-propositional objects is ...
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What are the objections to Wittgenstein's argument that semantics and syntax are the same?
Wittgenstein claimed that syntax and semantics are the same because in some language constructions, syntax can be made to function as semantics. Since it seems like there is still some opposition to ...
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Had Wittgenstein moved away from Schopenhauer by the time of the Tractatus?
Wittgenstein, according to Elizabeth Anscombe (one of his students), was impressed by Schopenhauer as a young man; given Schopenhauer is known for asserting
The world is my idea:”—this is a truth ...
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What did the Tractatus (really) say about Kant's absolute / in itself value?
(The A to Z of Kant and Kantianism, pg. 31)
Do we not need philosophy, in the wake of religion (apologies for my lack of grounding in that huge literature on Wittgenstein's 'way of life'), to find ...
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Is Wittgenstein's proposition on death a subtle put down?
I'm trying to dissolve all these ridiculous pseudo questions about death, that I have, which all seem to be variants of stamping my foot and demanding qualia for everything. So why not Wittgenstein?
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Did Wittgenstein think that pure description, without the influence of explanation, could be pursued?
Wittgenstein is stated as having said "we must do away with the explanation and description alone must take its place" (PI 109).
But isn't this akin to the myth of the given that Sellars attacked?
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Why did Wittgenstein think that only something that could be doubted could have meaning?
One of the reasons Wittgenstein thought the exclusive use of ostensive definition failed was because it opened the possibility that a given symbol's meaning was sourced from whatever sensation someone ...
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What is Wittgenstein claiming when he says that "each thing can be the case or not the case while everything else remains the same"?
In Tractatus 1.21 Wittgenstein writes
Each item can be the case or not the case while everything else remains the same. [1]
I'm looking for commentary on this point, since it seems out of place ...
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How does Wittgenstein think language is acquired?
Wittgenstein is critical of the 'private linguist' and his exclusive use of the ostensive definition, where the definition provided for a given word is an example or a 'pointing out' of what the word ...
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The Picture Theory of Meaning
I'm not quite clear as to exactly how how Wittgenstein concludes that metaphysical/non-phenomenal talk is meaningless in his Tractatus. Doesn't a statement like, "God exists" and its propositional ...
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The Tractatus and the Meaninglessness of Traditional Philosophy
After some research and personal investigation of Wittgenstein's Tractatus, I can't help but be confused by his conclusion that metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, etc. are meaningless given our language'...
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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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What does later Wittgenstein and earlier Wittgenstein have in common?
Wittgenstein, while previously advocating a picture theory of semantics, later came to revoke his support of this position.
But did Wittgenstein still hold on to certain ideas of his old school?
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What is the role of sensations in Wittgenstein's private language argument?
In Philosophical Investigations 244-254, before talking about private signs, Wittgenstein is talking about sensations.
He seems to divide this section into addressing in what way words refer to ...
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What happens when something becomes familiar to us?
Lately I've been pre-ocuppied with this question, which frankly makes me look at my surroundings in a fresh way. (I am mainly concerned with objects at the moment, but I think there can be a lot of ...
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Did Wittgenstein consider the possibility of a private language with public content?
Wittgenstein criticized the idea that there could be a meaningful language that was only known in principle by one person.
His insights have often been used to disregard the idea of private mental ...
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Wittgenstein's opinion that language must be public: How was this innovative and not already obvious?
Source: p 206, A Little History of Philosophy (2011 ed; not 2012 Reprint ed.) by Nigel Warburton PhD in Philosophy.
It may seem obvious to you that when you are in pain and
you speak about it ...
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What is the difference between propositional sign and proposition in Wittgenstein's Tractatus?
While explaining the problem of what philosophy is according to Wittgenstein's Tractatus, Frank P. Ramsey says:
a propositional sign is clear insofar as the internal properties of
its sense are ...
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Do Wittgenstein and Quine give the same criticisms of semantics?
What is the connection between the criticisms offered by Wittgenstein and Quine of meaning and language? Are both philosophers generally criticizing the same semantic theories with similar arguments, ...
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Does later Wittgenstein think that the pragmatic test for meaning is a determinant of semantic content to the exclusion of any other determinant?
Wittgenstein originally put forward the 'picture theory of meaning', which propagated that a given sentence or word is meaningful insofar as it corresponds to a fact or 'picture' of the world. The ...
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Why should we consider Wittgenstein a Schopenhauerian idealist?
About the Tractatus, while explaining the similarities and differences between Wittgenstein and Kant with regard to the metaphysics, on the one hand (both track limits, according to which we cannot ...
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Did Frege criticize the style of the Tractatus?
Wittgenstein's Tractatus appears to have a singular style (526 sections numbered and organized in decimal under headings 1 to 7). It's also very concise. And the stylistic side is not envisaged by ...
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Wittgenstein and Picturing Relationships
I've been listening to BBC's "In Our Time" on Wittgenstein here, but I can't seem to understand why Wittgenstein thought that "a proposition can't picture the pictorial relationship." One of the ...
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Which problem is Russell focusing on while providing a solution, in his introduction to the Tractatus?
In the final part of his introduction to the Tractatus Logico-philosophicus, Russell provides a possible solution to the problem of the impossibility of self-reference of logic:
There is one ...
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Why may I considere Wittgenstein a Kantian thinker with regard to metaphysics?
Wittgenstein is a Kantian philosopher as far as the structure of the
Tractatus, as far as the last part (section 6 and comments) are
concerned with: that I cannot speak about the subject in the ...
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Are propositions of sciences to be considered propositions of natural language, in the Tractatus?
Given the following assumptions:
1) When Wittgenstein speaks about meaningful propositions he does refer to propositions of natural sciences.
2) About the problem of the perfection of language, he ...
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can a vague sentence be considered meaningful in the Tractatus?
In the Tractatus, Wittgenstein draws a demarcation among meaningful sentences (1), the meaningless propositions of logic (2: sinnlos sätze) and nonsensical propositions (3: unsinnig sätze).
1) ...
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How Russell and Ramsey misunderstood Wittgenstein with regard to the problem of the perfection of language?
In the Tractatus Logico- Philosophicus there is a tension between the aim of achieving a language perfectly ordered, with regard to natural language, and the evidence that the latter is not really ...
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Can I use "nomothetic" to refer to the calculus correctness perspective in the Tractatus?
I'm doing a comparison between the Tractatus Logico Philosophicus and the Philosophical Investications.
I want to remark the difference between the solid formal edifice built in the former, in ...
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Which is the difference between Sache and Sachverhalt in the Tractatus?
As far as I know, When Russell asked to Wittgenstein to tell him the difference between Sache and Sachverhalt, Wittgenstein answered that "Sachverhalt" is what corresponds to an elementar sätze (an ...
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Where can I find a correlation to Russell's epistemology in the Tractatus?
According to the Structure of the Tractatus, there is:
1) the ontology at the beginning;
2) "a discussion to what Russell calls epistemology, but it is actually the foundation of possible knowledge ...
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Why "philosophy never ends" for the tractarian Wittgenstein?
In the Prototractatus Wittgenstein wrote an additional section (called 6.55) which is seen as a possible third solution to the matter of building a perfect system of logic.
This conclusion was ...
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In which sense Wittgenstein criticizes Schopenhauer's WILL?
In the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, the section 6.53 may be treated as "a criticism of Schopenhauer's Will".
As far as I understood there is also another concept involved: the russellian idea that ...
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What does bedeutung refer to in the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus?
Given that the literal translation of the german word bedeutung is "sense", what does it refer to in the semantics of the tractarian Wittgenstein, among these options?
the meaning of the subatomic ...
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Can Wittgenstein's critique of private language be turned against (modernized) Kant?
Wittgenstein argued, roughly, that a language has to be learned, and to be learned it has to be used first. Therefore, no private language. But if language has to be learned what then are the a priori ...
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How does Wittgenstein's argument against recognizing private sensations work?
Wittgenstein writes in his Philosophical Investigations in paragraph 270:
Let us imagine a use for the entry of the sign "S" in my diary. I discover that whenever I have a particular sensation a ...
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Is it possible to use Wittgenstein's family resemblance approach to universals to separate high art from commercial art?
In a previous post, I asked whether it is possible to objectively compare the quality and validity of different pieces and forms of art. In the responses I got the overall response is that there is no ...
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When 'I' is used as a subject, why do we disuse 'I' and so create an illusion?
Caution: I probably quoted overmuch; please feel free to omit the first few paragraphs and advise what can be omitted.
Source: pp 137-138 , Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy (1 ed, 1999) ...
user8572
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Wittgenstein criticizes Coffey's work 'The Science of Logic' in its assumption that every proposition requires a subject and a predicate. Why?
Why does Wittgenstein believe there can be propositions that lack a subject or predicate? What examples does Wittgenstein give in support of this belief?
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Relationship between Kant and Wittgenstein [closed]
Anyone run into a good book or essay relating (discussing the arguable relationship between) Kant's embedding our 'conceptual scheme' (for lack of a better term for "the way we think", or what we ...
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Logical Atomism's long term effect on modern culture?
Wittgenstein and Russell both moved away from Logical Atomism, and it is generally considered to have failed as a theory of how language connects to truth.
However, as an IT person, when I first ...
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Exactly what was Wittgenstein's argument against identity?
Roughly Speaking: to say of two things that they are identical is nonsense, and to say of one thing that it is identical with itself is to say nothing. (Tractatus, 5.5302 and 5.5303)
Like Russell ...
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For Wittgenstein, What is the relation if there any between a linguistic entity and things in the world?
Ludwig Wittgenstein said:
The difficulty of my theory of logical portrayal was that of finding a
connection between the signs on paper and a situation outside in the
world. I always said that ...
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Wittgenstein on names and paradigms [closed]
This is in a way a followup to the question on Wittgenstein's standard metre of Paris, which is part of his discussion on names in language.
In philosophical investigations §55, Wittgenstein says:
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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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How long is the standard meter?
In the Philosophical Investigations §50, Wittgenstein writes:
There is one thing of which one can say neither that it is one
metre long, nor that it is not one metre long, and that is the ...
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