Why Is Wittgenstein Important?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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Wittgenstein made a

major contribution to conversations on language, logic and metaphysics

, but also ethics, the way that we should live in the world. He published two important books: the Tractatus Logico Philosophicus (1921) and the Philosophical Investigations (1953), for which he is best known.

Why was Wittgenstein so important?

Wittgenstein’s mature philosophy is therefore vitally important for

understanding the relation between artificial and natural intelligence

, and the dependence of the new technology on human modes of learning (rather than vice versa).

What is philosophy according to Wittgenstein?

Wittgenstein’s view of what philosophy is, or should be, changed little over his life. In the Tractatus he says at 4.111 that “philosophy is not one of the natural sciences,” and at 4.112 “

Philosophy aims at the logical clarification of thoughts

.” Philosophy is not descriptive but elucidatory.

Is Wittgenstein still relevant today?

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 not of all time.

What is the significance of saying in the Tractatus?

Frege

ridiculed the formalist conception of mathematics by saying that the formalists confused the unimportant thing, the sign, with the important

, the meaning. Surely, one wishes to say, mathematics does not treat of dashes on a bit of paper.

What we Cannot speak about we must?

Or the more popular translation: “

Whereof One Cannot Speak, Thereof One Must Be Silent

.” This is Wittgenstein’s 7th Proposition from the Tractatus.

Who said philosophy is the science of knowledge?


Albert Einstein

(1879–1955) is well known as the most prominent physicist of the twentieth century.

What is the main function of philosophy according to Wittgenstein?

In the Tractatus Wittgenstein’s logical construction of a philosophical system has a purpose—

to find the limits of world, thought and language

; in other words, to distinguish between sense and nonsense.

What is the aim of logic in philosophy?

The aim of logic is

the elaboration of a coherent system that allows us to investigate, classify, and evaluate good and bad forms of reasoning

.

What type of sources of knowledge are used by man?

There are gernerally four sources of knowledge;

intuition, authority, rational induction, and empiricism

. Intuition is knowledge that is gained through a feeling or thought that might turn out to be true.

What would Wittgenstein say about social media?


Social media platforms are embedded in our cultural lives and are integral to how we think about social interaction.

What Cannot be shown Cannot be said?

Showing cannot be stated: “what

can be shown

, cannot be said” (Tractatus 4.1212). … In the Tractatus Logic underlies language (4.12). The basic ‘experience’ which underlies logic is, according to 5.552, “not that something or other is the state of things, but that something is”, which is the mystical (6.44).

How are saying and showing different?

But the nature of the saying-showing distinction remains the same: whereas saying means representing facts by means of other facts, showing is the pure displaying of an identity, of the nature of something: In this case, of the complete essence of the world.

What we Cannot say we can’t say we can’t whistle either?

“What we can’t say we can’t say, and we can’t whistle it either.” It was this carefully-delineated sense of what a logical language can properly express that influenced members of the Vienna Circle in their formulation of the principles of logical positivism.

Who can not speak?


Mute

: A mute is a person who does not speak, either from an inability to speak or an unwillingness to speak. The term “mute” is specifically applied to a person who, due to profound congenital (or early) deafness, is unable to use articulate language and so is deaf-mute.

What did Wittgenstein say about language?

Wittgenstein, who lived from 1889 to 1951, is most famous for a handful of oracular pronouncements: “The limits of language are the limits of my world.” “Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.” “

The human body is the best picture of the human soul.

” They sound great; they are also hopelessly mysterious …

Amira Khan
Author
Amira Khan
Amira Khan is a philosopher and scholar of religion with a Ph.D. in philosophy and theology. Amira's expertise includes the history of philosophy and religion, ethics, and the philosophy of science. She is passionate about helping readers navigate complex philosophical and religious concepts in a clear and accessible way.