365
edits
Project:About Wittgenstein: Difference between revisions
no edit summary
No edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{Header}} | |||
== Essential biography == | |||
Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein (Vienna, 26 April 1889 - Cambridge, 29 April 1951) was an Austrian philosopher who mostly worked and taught at the University of Cambridge. He is widely considered one of the most important philosophers of the 20th century. | Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein (Vienna, 26 April 1889 - Cambridge, 29 April 1951) was an Austrian philosopher who mostly worked and taught at the University of Cambridge. He is widely considered one of the most important philosophers of the 20th century. | ||
Born into a wealthy bourgeois family, he soon became acquainted with the most relevant figures of Viennese ''fin de siècle'' culture (J. Brahms, G. Klimt, G. Mahler, K. Kraus). He completed his studies in mechanical engineering in Manchester, where he developed a keen interest in the works on logic and the philosophy of mathematics by Gottlob Frege (1948-1925) and Bertrand Russell (1872-1970). He therefore moved to Cambridge in 1911 to attend the lessons of Russell, who immediately noticed his sharp perspicacity, as well as his troubled attitude. | Born into a wealthy bourgeois family, he soon became acquainted with the most relevant figures of Viennese ''fin de siècle'' culture (J. Brahms, G. Klimt, G. Mahler, K. Kraus). He completed his studies in mechanical engineering in Manchester, where he developed a keen interest in the works on logic and the philosophy of mathematics by Gottlob Frege (1948-1925) and Bertrand Russell (1872-1970). He therefore moved to Cambridge in 1911 to attend the lessons of Russell, who immediately noticed his sharp perspicacity, as well as his troubled attitude. | ||
Later, he spent some time (1913-1914) in Skjolden, Norway, where he wrote and | Later, he spent some time (1913-1914) in Skjolden, Norway, where he wrote and dictated his first works on logic (the ''[[Notes on Logic]]'' and the ''[[Notes dictated to G.E. Moore in Norway]]''). At the outbreak of World War I, he enlisted as a volunteer in the Austrian army. The war was one of the most revealing experiences of Wittgenstein’s life. Amid the harshness of the conflict, his first and only published work – the ''[[Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus]]'', completed during his imprisonment in Cassino (1918-1919) – came to light. The book was published in a first German edition, disapproved by the author, in 1921 and later in the English translation by Wittgenstein’s friend Frank Ramsey (1903-1930) in 1922. | ||
Turning away from philosophical thought, from 1922 to 1928 Wittgenstein devoted himself to elementary school teaching in a small Austrian village, to architecture – he built his sister Margarete’s house – and to working as a gardener in a convent. The interest which the newborn, neo-positivist Vienna Circle paid to his work elicited rather cold reactions on his part. | Turning away from philosophical thought, from 1922 to 1928 Wittgenstein devoted himself to elementary school teaching in a small Austrian village, to architecture – he built his sister Margarete’s house – and to working as a gardener in a convent. The interest which the newborn, neo-positivist Vienna Circle paid to his work elicited rather cold reactions on his part. | ||
| Line 20: | Line 18: | ||
His most famous words: “Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent” (''Tractatus logico-philosophicus'', 7). His last words: “Tell them I’ve had a wonderful life”. | His most famous words: “Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent” (''Tractatus logico-philosophicus'', 7). His last words: “Tell them I’ve had a wonderful life”. | ||
== An outline of Wittgenstein's thought == | |||
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 was the investigation on language, but it would be reductive to limit the scope of his thought to the philosophy of language and logic. He was stimulated by Hertz, Frege, and Russell, but also Kraus, Spengler, Weininger, Schopenhauer, Tolstoy, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche. One cannot reduce his influence to the philosophical area either: 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 was the investigation on language, but it would be reductive to limit the scope of his thought to the philosophy of language and logic. He was stimulated by Hertz, Frege, and Russell, but also Kraus, Spengler, Weininger, Schopenhauer, Tolstoy, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche. One cannot reduce his influence to the philosophical area either: 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 to a representational and “realist” perspective, although he brought brilliant innovations to coeval philosophy. The key idea of this first book is the distinction between what can be said (i.e. represented, thus the facts in the world) and what can only be shown (i.e. the forms of the representations); the ''Tractatus'' aims to delimit the realm of meaningful propositions to the realm of science and to prove that ethics, aesthetics, and logic are alike in that they cannot be expressed by words. Wandering between the strictly logical and mystical, Wittgenstein discusses topics that range from the picture-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, which is now traced back to linguistic practices – the well-known “language games” – | The period of the ''Philosophical Investigations'' coincides with an evolution in Wittgenstein’s consideration of language, which is now traced back to linguistic practices – the well-known “language games” – that reveal specific configurations of human behaviour – “forms of life”. These notions reveal an affinity with the “linguistic-pragmatic turn” in the philosophy of language, and are applied variously by the author in the philosophy of psychology, in anthropological reflections (see, for example, his ''[[Bemerkungen über Frazers “The Golden Bough”|Notes on Frazer’s “The Golden Bough”]]'') and in his work on the foundations of mathematics. | ||
The discontinuity between his youthful thought and his mature reflections has often been emphasized – even by Wittgenstein himself, in some passages – especially in relation to the connotation of the nature of language – formally structured in the “early” Wittgenstein, linked to the variable forms of culture in the “later” Wittgenstein. However, lines of continuity can be discerned, especially in the conception of philosophy as a “critique of language" and the “ethical point” of philosophical work, which is not intended to operate a foundation or give rise to a theory, but contains a transformative force of the human being. | The discontinuity between his youthful thought and his mature reflections has often been emphasized – even by Wittgenstein himself, in some passages – especially in relation to the connotation of the nature of language – formally structured in the “early” Wittgenstein, linked to the variable forms of culture in the “later” Wittgenstein. However, lines of continuity can be discerned, especially in the conception of philosophy as a “critique of language" and the “ethical point” of philosophical work, which is not intended to operate a foundation or give rise to a theory, but contains a transformative force of the human being. | ||
== About Wittgenstein's works and The Ludwig Wittgenstein Project's policy == | |||
Wittgenstein wrote a lot but published little: a very short, and hilarious, review of Peter Coffey’s ''The Science of Logic''; the ''Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus''; a dictionary, or rather a spelling book, for German-speaking schoolchildren; an academic article by the title ''Some Remarks on Logical Form''; a letter to the editor of Mind. Almost everything we now have in volume format was published posthumously. After Wittgenstein died in 1951, his appointed literary executors, E. Anscombe, R. Rhees and G. von Wright, were left with the task of sorting and grouping his handwritten notes and typescripts in order to publish them. | Wittgenstein wrote a lot but published little: a very short, and hilarious, review of Peter Coffey’s ''The Science of Logic''; the ''Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus''; a dictionary, or rather a spelling book, for German-speaking schoolchildren; an academic article by the title ''Some Remarks on Logical Form''; a letter to the editor of Mind. Almost everything we now have in volume format was published posthumously. After Wittgenstein died in 1951, his appointed literary executors, E. Anscombe, R. Rhees and G. von Wright, were left with the task of sorting and grouping his handwritten notes and typescripts in order to publish them. | ||
Now, the ''Nachlass'' itself – the collection of Wittgenstein’s manuscript material, the “raw” Wittgenstein – has been available online since the 2010s, almost in its entirety, both in a fac-simile edition and in an XML/HTML transcription. This was made possible by the generosity of the copyright holders of the originals, [https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/library/wren-digital-library/modern-manuscripts/wittgenstein/ The Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge], and the work of the [http://wab.uib.no/ Wittgenstein Archives Bergen]. Much of the digitalized content has been released under the [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license]. | Now, the ''Nachlass'' itself – the collection of Wittgenstein’s manuscript material, the “raw” Wittgenstein – has been available online since the 2010s, almost in its entirety, both in a fac-simile edition and in an XML/HTML transcription. This was made possible by the generosity of the copyright holders of the originals, [https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/library/wren-digital-library/modern-manuscripts/wittgenstein/ The Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge], and the work of the [http://wab.uib.no/ Wittgenstein Archives Bergen]. Much of the digitalized content has been released under the [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license]. | ||
Some parts of the ''Nachlass'' were carefully prepared for publication by Wittgenstein himself, and it is fair to assume that he would have had them printed had he lived longer. The ''Philosophical Investigations'', for which he even wrote a preface in 1945, are the best example of a text thoroughly crafted by Wittgenstein and ready for the press by the time he passed away. In other cases, however, his notes were only published as books after undergoing extensive editing: this is the case, for example, with the lectures he held in Cambridge and the private conversations, that we have received through notes taken by his students and interlocutors. There are as well midway cases, | Some parts of the ''Nachlass'' were carefully prepared for publication by Wittgenstein himself, and it is fair to assume that he would have had them printed had he lived longer. The ''Philosophical Investigations'', for which he even wrote a preface in 1945, are the best example of a text thoroughly crafted by Wittgenstein and ready for the press by the time he passed away. In other cases, however, his notes were only published as books after undergoing extensive editing: this is the case, for example, with the lectures he held in Cambridge and the private conversations, that we have received through notes taken by his students and interlocutors. There are as well midway cases, texts such as ''On Certainty'', ''Remarks on Colours'', ''Zettel'', ''Philosophical Grammar'', ''Culture and Value''; in order to prepare this texts for publication the editors selected, grouped, and sorted the remarks. | ||
Based on our expertise in the field of copyright, we at The Ludwig Wittgenstein Project decided to only publish those texts for which we had strong reasons to determine that the editor’s work can not be considered creative. The list of available texts meeting these criteria is constantly being updated. | Based on our expertise in the field of copyright, we at The Ludwig Wittgenstein Project decided to only publish those texts for which we had strong reasons to determine that the editor’s work can not be considered creative. The list of available texts meeting these criteria is constantly being updated. | ||