Wittgenstein Essays

  • Bruner and Wittgenstein: Language Learning

    4279 Words  | 9 Pages

    Bruner and Wittgenstein: Language Learning A crucial phase in the child's development comes with its acquisition of language, but before we can engage in any pedagogical efforts to further infant development or to aid atypical cases, we need to understand methodologically what occurs during language learning. Jerome Bruner, in a methodological adaptation of Ludwig Wittgenstein's middle and later work in an extension of Noam Chomsky's LAD, has put forth one influential proposal (Bruner 1983). Ludwig

  • Ludwig Wittgenstein: Aesthetics and Beauty

    763 Words  | 2 Pages

    I disagree with Ludwig Wittgenstein when he states that aesthetics “draws one’s attention to certain features, to place things side by side so as to exhibit these features” because of the logic that gives birth to the thoughts that led to this statement. This logic questions the ability of a person to ascertain what “beauty” is, what contains the quality known as “beauty”, and the levels of beauty and how they can be measured and compared. Wittgenstein uses the metaphor of games to illustrate

  • Ludwig Wittgenstein

    1495 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) produced two commonly recognised stages of thought in 20th century analytic philosophy, both of which are taken to be central and fundamental in their respective periods. His early philosophy in the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, first published in 1921, provided new insights into relationships between the world, thought, language and the nature of philosophy by showing the application of modern logic to metaphysics via language. His later philosophy, mostly found

  • Kierkegaard and Wittgenstein

    2160 Words  | 5 Pages

    Kierkegaard and Wittgenstein The connections between Ludwig Wittgenstein and Soren Kierkegaard as philosophers are not at all immediately obvious. On the surface, Wittgenstein deals with matters concerning the incorrect use of philosophical language and Kierkegaard focuses almost exclusively on answering the question 'how to become a Christian'. But this account belies deeper structural similarities between these men's important works. Thus, this paper suggests that their methods, rather than

  • Wittgenstein Essay

    552 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) developed his interest in philosophy while studying aeronautical engineering at Manchester University. This interest was in the philosophy of pure mathematics and ultimately led him to Gottlob Frege, who advised him to go to Cambridge and study with Bertand Russell, in 1911 (Biletzki & Matar, 2011). This was the inception of Wittgenstein’s early philosophy, which lasted from 1911 – 1921. He joined the Austrian army at the start of World War I and was eventually taken

  • Husserl, Carnap, Heidegger, and Wittgenstein

    3604 Words  | 8 Pages

    Husserl, Carnap, Heidegger, and Wittgenstein ABSTRACT: Phenomenology and logical positivism both subscribed to an empirical-verifiability criterion of mental or linguistic meaning. The acceptance of this criterion confronted them with the same problem: how to understand the Other as a subject with his own experience, if the existence and nature of the Other's experiences cannot be verified. Husserl tackled this problem in the Cartesian Meditations, but he could not reconcile the verifiability

  • Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein

    5192 Words  | 11 Pages

    Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein [IPA 'l?dv?ç 'jo?z?f 'jo?hann 'v?tg?n?ta?n] (April 26, 1889 – April 29, 1951) was an Austrian philosopher who contributed several groundbreaking works to modern philosophy, primarily on the foundations of logic and the philosophy of language. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century. [1] Although numerous collections from Wittgenstein's notebooks, papers, and lectures have been published since his death, he published

  • Fodor’s Misconstrual of Wittgenstein in the Language of Thought

    1249 Words  | 3 Pages

    Fodor’s Misconstrual of Wittgenstein in the Language of Thought In his book, The Language of Thought, Jerry Fodor claims that i) Wittgenstein’s private language argument is not in fact against Fodor’s theory, and ii) Wittgenstein’s private language argument “isn’t really any good” (70). In this paper I hope to show that Fodor’s second claim is patently false. In aid of this I will consider Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations (243-363), Jerry Fodor's The Language of Thought (55-97)

  • Leonilla, Princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn By Franz Xaver Winterhalter

    1172 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Leonilla, Princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn” By Franz Xaver Winterhalter, 1843 Franz Xaver Winterhalter was born of peasant stock, in Mensenschwad, a small village in Germany’s Black Forest. His early training, as an apprentice in a studio in Freiburg, began when he was thirteen. He learned engraving and he supported himself as a lithographer, while he studied painting in Munich (nga, par.1). Even though he is known to be an academic painter, this seems to be a contradiction, as Webster’s Dictionary

  • Language Games, Writing Games - Wittgenstein and Derrida: A Comparative Study

    3235 Words  | 7 Pages

    Language Games, Writing Games - Wittgenstein and Derrida: A Comparative Study ABSTRACT: The concept of deconstruction was first used by Derrida in transforming Heideggerian "destruction." The deconstruction of Derrida is a textintern, intertextual, in-textual activity. He plays a double game inside of philosophy, emphasizing that our thinking is embedded in metaphysics, while at the same moment he questions metaphysics. Wittgenstein's deconstruction, however, involves a new kind of reading,

  • The Great Work of Ludwig Wittgenstein on Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

    1081 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ludwig Wittgenstein was an Austrian-British philosopher who contributed significantly in the fields of mathematics, logic, and language. The work he contributed throughout his life can be split into two parts, his earlier and later work. Arguably his greatest contribution came from his earlier works, mostly from the “Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus”. According Biletzki, Wittgenstein “addresses the central problems of philosophy which deal with the world, thought and language, and presents a “solution”

  • Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Nature of Religious Language

    845 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ludwig Wittgenstein once believed that language's function was to name objects and the meaning of language was found in the objects for which it stands. He later rejected this and centred on how language works and is used, believing that problems of religious language come from misunderstanding its usage. Wittgenstein was no longer concerned with the truth or falsity of language but the way it is used and the functions that it performs, as he said 'Don't ask for the meaning ask for the use

  • Uunderstanding The Novel On Certainty by Ludwig Wittgenstein

    906 Words  | 2 Pages

    When one states something they usually feel as if it is completely certain. Author Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote “On Certainty” which is a series of notes; the author wrote these notes towards the end of his life. The series is about matters related to knowledge, doubt, and skepticism. Even though Wittgenstein notes were not organized, certain themes and preoccupations were present. He is usually addressed as one of the most misunderstood philosophers in history. Due to his method of philosophy, he was

  • The British Avant-Garde: A Philosophical Analysis

    3203 Words  | 7 Pages

    The British Avant-Garde: A Philosophical Analysis ABSTRACT: British Avant-Garde art, poses a challenge to traditional aesthetic analysis. This paper will argue that such art is best understood in terms of Wittgenstein¡¦s concept of "seeing-as," and will point out that the artists often use this concept in describing their work. This is significant in that if we are to understand art in terms of cultural practice, then we must actually look at the practice. We will discuss initiatives such as the

  • Criticism of the Verification Principle in A.J. Ayer's Book Language, Truth and Logic

    4592 Words  | 10 Pages

    put forward in this treatise derive from the doctrines of Bertrand Russell and Wittgenstein. For background interest, Language, Truth and Logic was written after Ayer had attended some of the meetings of the Vienna Circle, in the 1930's. Friedrich Waismann and Moritz Schlick headed these logical positivists of Vienna. Their principle doctrine can be said to have been founded in the meetings they had with Wittgenstein and their interpretation of his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. Ayer's book

  • Wittgenstein's Dilemma

    4296 Words  | 9 Pages

    empirically then this will lead to a substantial yet contingent truth. The cure for this dilemma for Wittgenstein in his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus was to submit the doctrine that the structure of language cannot be said but only shown. This doctrine is vague and misconceived. In this essay, I will show that it is vague and misconceived and, consequently, why it does not cure his dilemma. Wittgenstein stated in the preface of his book that he had solved the problems of philosophy. That these problems

  • Music, Emotion and Language: Using Music to Communicate

    3292 Words  | 7 Pages

    Emotion and Language: Using Music to Communicate ABSTRACT: There has yet to be a culture discovered which lacks music. Music is a part of our existence, but we do not fully understand it. In this paper, working in the tradition of Aristotle, Wittgenstein and Langer, I elucidate some of the connections between music and the emotions. Using contemporary philosophy of mind theories of emotion, I explain how we can have a better understanding of our emotive responses to music. I follow the pattern

  • Wittgenstein's Children: Some Implications for Teaching and Otherness

    3274 Words  | 7 Pages

    Teaching and Otherness ABSTRACT: The later Wittgenstein uses children in his philosophical arguments against the traditional views of language. Describing how they learn language is one of his philosophical methods for setting philosophers free from their views and enabling them to see the world in a different way. The purpose of this paper is to explore what features of children he takes advantage of in his arguments, and to show how we can read Wittgenstein in terms of education. Two children in Philosophical

  • Kripkenstein: Rule and Indeterminacy

    4651 Words  | 10 Pages

    Wittgenstein's and Kripke's indeterminacy, and then compare it to some other related theories on indeterminacy of human thinking, such as raised by Hume, Quine, and Goodman. Quine's indeterminacy differs from Wittgenstein's in several aspects. First, Wittgenstein and Kripke's indeterminacy applies to a single individual in isolation and this indeterminacy disappears when the single person is brought into a wider community. Thus, this indeterminacy is only logically possible or hypothetical. Second, in Quine's

  • Wittgenstein On Certainty

    520 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Ludwig Wittgenstein's book “On Certainty”, he discusses his beliefs on Knowledge, doubt, skepticism, and certainty. One part in his book that caught my eye was a section in his book where he discusses doubt. Ludwig states “My life consists in my being to accept many things”(344). He believes that some things cant be doubted and must remain so for us to go on philosophically. Ludwig says “That is to say, the questions that we raise and our doubts depend on the fact that some propositions are exempt