An introduction to Wittgenstein, the philosopher

1. Life
2. Background
3. Tractatus: The world according to Wittgenstein
4. The later philosophy
5. Conclusions: philosophy, ethics, science, religion
6. Publications

Life
• Wittgenstein: (1889 - 1951), Austrian-British philosopher. Considered twice as the "last great".
• Wealthy family. Jewish grandfather. Met Brahms, Mahler.
• Went to England to study engineering. Interested in mathematics, then in philosophy.
• 1911. Read "Principles of Mathematics" by Russell. met Frege.
• Went to Cambridge to study with Bertrand Russell.
• In Norway: Worked on philosophical questions.
• Austrian army service, taken into captivity by Italians. After war - gave his money. (before war donated to George Truckle & to Rilke)
• 1918. Completed "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus"
• Believed he solved all philosophical problems, so he quit philosophy.
• 1925. Meeting with "Vienna Circle". Schlick, Waismann, Carnap
• 1929. Returned to Cambridge to resume his work in philosophy.
• Began to reject certain conclusions of the Tractatus and to develop the position reflected in his Philosophical Investigations
• 1939. Professor of philosophy in Cambridge, after Moore.
• British nationality, worked in a hospital during the war.
• 1947. resigned, lived in Ireland in a cabin on the coast.
• 1951. Died in Cambridge.

Background
• Wittgenstein is not understood. Many different interpretations.
• At the end of 19C, a trend in philosophy - Questions about language instead of the the metaphysical "object".
• New idea: The daily life language is not coherent.
• Frege and Russell thought that new Logic is the answer.
• Wittgenstein studied Frege and Russell Logic calculus.
• He thought that we need to understand the natural language, not artificial one.
• He thought about a "clear language". Not "blurred".
• Wittgenstein put limits to the expression of thought.
• Wittgenstein is "inside" the language limits. The limit is set by logic.
• What is the outside of language - senseless, nonsense.
• Language = thought = world.

Tractatus: The world according to Wittgenstein

Language	thought	world
Language (T5.6, T5.62) Total Propositions (T4.001)	What we can think (T5.61) All true thoughts (T3.01)	World (T1) Total Reality (T2.063)
Propositions (T3.1, T4.023) True Elementary (T5)	Thoughts (T3) Pictures (T2.1) Model of reality (T2.12)	Facts (T1.1, T2.06)
Elementary propositions (T4.21) Connection of names (T4.22)		Atomic facts (T2) =state of affairs
Name (T3.22, T4.0311) Simple signs (T3.201, T3.202) Words (T4.026)	Elements of picture (T2.1514)	Objects = Things (T2.01) Simple (T2.02) Unalterable (T2.0271)

The later philosophy
• Later work is not the opposite of Tractatus, but it is more "realistic".
• Still based on language.
• Still the goal of philosophy is to explain, not to describe or to establish theories.
• Thought is not an internal process which is translated to speech.
• Language is a collection of different activities, each with its own logic. Language is NOT total of propositions and not total predicates. (what about commands, prayers, worry, questions..)
• What is the definition of "game"? there is no common def for all games. "board games", etc.
• Language is not necessarily attached to the world.
• There is no use for the concept of "reality - phenomena".
• The sense or the meaning (of a sign, or language) is a result of understanding and explanation.
• Wittgenstein breaks the correspondence between "name - subject". The sign does not attached to a "thing" by the means of though (not like in the Tractatus).
• A grammatical sentence is a presentation rule. Like agenda of a map. Like the chess game. Not to be confirmed (True) or denied (False, contradiction).
• Methaphysics mistake is the un-recognition of the rammatical characteristic of the language. Metaphysics approach is that the presentation rules are claims or assumptions about the world.
• The "philosophical I". Philosophy is confused by the term "I". I is not equal to a person name.
Cognition / perception (=todaa) is not a subject of introspection.
• "I'm aware" is not (what Decartes thought) an empirical sentence. The doubt is excluded here in a grammatical way. This is just a signaling "It's me".
• Language game: The meaning of the language depends on the context. There is a process by which one learns how to use terms of the language. Language game is the language and the activities which it is built upon.
• Samples:
  • The constructor and his assistance.
  • To guess riddles
  • To report about an event
  • To suggest and to examine a hypothesis.
  • To play on a theatre stage

Publications
• Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
• Remarks on the Foundations of Mathematics
• Philosophical Remarks
• Philosophical Grammar
• The Blue and Brown Books
• Philosophical Investigations
• On Certainty
• Remarks on the Philosophy of Psychology
• Culture and Value
• Zettel