Ludwig Wittgenstein

Life and writing

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) was born in Vienna and became closely associated with Cambridge philosophy. His Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus investigated language, logic and the limits of meaningful expression. Its tightly numbered remarks belong to a connected work rather than a set of independent proverbs.

The later Philosophical Investigations, published after his death, places greater attention on the varied uses of words in ordinary life. Examples and comparisons help expose how philosophical problems can arise when expressions are detached from their working contexts.

Reading this voice

Locate a quotation within the early or later work before combining it with another. Similar vocabulary does not establish that Wittgenstein held one unchanged theory throughout his career. His questions and imagined dialogues often investigate a view rather than simply endorse it.

Subjects to explore

Words to begin with

• When we say: Every word in language signifies “something”, we have, so far, said nothing whatsoever. What really comes before our mind when we understand a word? – Isn’t it something like a picture? Can’t it be a picture? Could someone understand the word “pain” that has never felt pain? A rose is red in the dark too?
• Describe the aroma of coffee – why can’t it be done? Do we miss the words? What is the natural expression of an intention? –Look at a cat when it stalks a bird; or at a beast when it wants to escape. When we do philosophy we are like savages, primitive people, who hear expressions of the civilized men, put a false interpretation of them, and then draw the queerest conclusion from it.