Project:About Wittgenstein: Difference between revisions

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WITTGENSTEIN'S THOUGHT QUICK OUTLINE
WITTGENSTEIN'S THOUGHT QUICK OUTLINE


Wittgenstein's philosophical production touched upon numerous critical points in contemporary philosophy. It is not incorrect to say that Wittgenstein's major concern throughout his life remained the investigation of language, but it would be reductive to limit his thought to the philosophy of language and logic. Stimulated by Weininger, Frege, Russel, Spengler…, but also Schopenhauer, Tolstoy, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche…, one cannot limit his influences on the philosophical area: he was an attentive reader of Goethe and appreciator of German poetry. Music, moreover, and particularly the classical romantic music of the Liederists and Brahms, remained one of his primary sources of inspiration.
Wittgenstein's philosophical production touched upon numerous critical points in contemporary philosophy. It is not incorrect to say that Wittgenstein's major concern throughout his life remained the investigation of language, but it would be reductive to limit his thought to the philosophy of language and logic. He was stimulated by Weininger, Frege, Russel, Spengler…, but also Schopenhauer, Tolstoy, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche. One cannot either reduce his influences to the philosophical area: he was an attentive reader of Goethe and appreciator of German poetry. Music, moreover, and particularly the classical romantic music of the Liederists and Brahms, remained one of his primary sources of inspiration.


At the time of the ''Tractatus'', the influence of the prevailing logicism restricted his consideration of symbolism from a representational and “realist” perspective, although he brought brilliant innovations to coeval philosophy - from the theory of proposition and logical atomism to truth-functionality, from the foundations of ontology and epistemology to the conception of the normativity of natural laws, from reflection on solipsism to ethics, aesthetics and even theology. The logical Wittgenstein of the ''Tractatus'' particularly conditioned the emergence of the neo-positivist philosophy of the so-called Vienna Circle, which was formed in the Austrian capital during the first post-war period and brought together thinkers such as Moritz Schlick (1882-1936), Rudolf Carnap (1891-1970), Otto Neurath (1882-1945) and Friedrich Waismann (1896-1959).
At the time of the ''Tractatus'', the influence of the prevailing logicism restricted his consideration of symbolism to a representational and “realist” perspective, although he brought brilliant innovations to coeval philosophy - from the theory of proposition and logical atomism to truth-functionality, from the foundations of ontology and epistemology to the conception of the normativity of natural laws, from reflection on solipsism to ethics, aesthetics and even theology. The logical Wittgenstein of the ''Tractatus'' particularly conditioned the emergence of the neo-positivist philosophy of the so-called Vienna Circle, which was formed in the Austrian capital during the first post-war period and brought together thinkers such as Moritz Schlick (1882-1936), Rudolf Carnap (1891-1970), Otto Neurath (1882-1945) and Friedrich Waismann (1896-1959).


The period of the ''Philosophical Investigations'' coincides with an evolution in Wittgenstein’s consideration of language, traced back to linguistic practices – the well-known "language games" – that reveal specific configurations of the human being – "forms of life". These notions reveal an affinity with the "linguistic-pragmatic turn" in philosophy of language, and are applied variously by the author in the philosophy of psychology, in anthropological reflections (see, for example, his Notes on Frazer's Golden Branch) and in his work on the foundations of mathematics.
The period of the ''Philosophical Investigations'' coincides with an evolution in Wittgenstein’s consideration of language, traced back to linguistic practices – the well-known "language games" – that reveal specific configurations of the human being – "forms of life". These notions reveal an affinity with the "linguistic-pragmatic turn" in philosophy of language, and are applied variously by the author in the philosophy of psychology, in anthropological reflections (see, for example, his Notes on Frazer's Golden Branch) and in his work on the foundations of mathematics.