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Philosophical Investigations
Philosophical Investigations (German: Philosophische Untersuchungen) is a work by the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, published posthumously in 1953.
Philosophical Investigations is divided into two parts, consisting of what Wittgenstein calls, in the preface, Bemerkungen, translated by G. E. M. Anscombe as "remarks".
A survey among American university and college teachers ranked the Investigations as the most important book of 20th-century philosophy.
In its preface, Wittgenstein says that Philosophical Investigations can "be seen in the right light only by contrast with and against the background of my older way of thinking". Wittgenstein biographer Ray Monk writes, "This is partly because of the great differences between his early and late work, but also because of the equally important continuities between the two". The early work in which Wittgenstein expressed his "older way of thinking" is the only book Wittgenstein published in his lifetime, the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus.
The Blue and Brown Books, a set of notes dictated to his class at Cambridge in 1933–1934, contain the seeds of Wittgenstein's later thoughts on language and are widely read as a turning point in his philosophy of language—"as an early prototype for subsequent presentations of Wittgenstein's later philosophy".
The American philosopher Norman Malcolm credits Piero Sraffa with breaking Wittgenstein's hold of the notion that a proposition must literally be a picture of reality by means of a rude gesture from Sraffa, followed by Sraffa asking, "What is the logical form of that?" In the Introduction to the book written in 1945, Wittgenstein said Sraffa "for many years unceasingly practiced on my thoughts. I am indebted to this stimulus for the most consequential ideas in this book".
The book begins with a quotation from Johann Nestroy's play Der Schützling: "The trouble about progress is that it always looks much greater than it really is" (translation from revised fourth edition).
Wittgenstein first mentions games in section 3 of Philosophical Investigations and then develops this discussion of games into the key notion of a language game. Wittgenstein's use of the term language game "is meant to bring into prominence the fact that the speaking of language is part of an activity, or of a life-form". A central feature of language games is that language is used in context and cannot be understood outside of that context. Wittgenstein lists the following as examples of language games: "Giving orders, and obeying them"; "describing the appearance of an object, or giving its measurements"; "constructing an object from a description (a drawing)"; "reporting an event"; "speculating about an event". The famous example is the meaning of the word "game". We speak of various kinds of games: board games, betting games, sports, and "war games". These are all different uses of the word "games". Wittgenstein also gives the example of "Water!", which can be used as an exclamation, an order, a request, or an answer to a question. The meaning of the word depends on the language game in which it is used. Another way Wittgenstein makes the point is that the word "water" has no meaning apart from its use within a language game. One might use the word as an order to have someone else bring you a glass of water. But it can also be used to warn someone that the water has been poisoned.
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Philosophical Investigations
Philosophical Investigations (German: Philosophische Untersuchungen) is a work by the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, published posthumously in 1953.
Philosophical Investigations is divided into two parts, consisting of what Wittgenstein calls, in the preface, Bemerkungen, translated by G. E. M. Anscombe as "remarks".
A survey among American university and college teachers ranked the Investigations as the most important book of 20th-century philosophy.
In its preface, Wittgenstein says that Philosophical Investigations can "be seen in the right light only by contrast with and against the background of my older way of thinking". Wittgenstein biographer Ray Monk writes, "This is partly because of the great differences between his early and late work, but also because of the equally important continuities between the two". The early work in which Wittgenstein expressed his "older way of thinking" is the only book Wittgenstein published in his lifetime, the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus.
The Blue and Brown Books, a set of notes dictated to his class at Cambridge in 1933–1934, contain the seeds of Wittgenstein's later thoughts on language and are widely read as a turning point in his philosophy of language—"as an early prototype for subsequent presentations of Wittgenstein's later philosophy".
The American philosopher Norman Malcolm credits Piero Sraffa with breaking Wittgenstein's hold of the notion that a proposition must literally be a picture of reality by means of a rude gesture from Sraffa, followed by Sraffa asking, "What is the logical form of that?" In the Introduction to the book written in 1945, Wittgenstein said Sraffa "for many years unceasingly practiced on my thoughts. I am indebted to this stimulus for the most consequential ideas in this book".
The book begins with a quotation from Johann Nestroy's play Der Schützling: "The trouble about progress is that it always looks much greater than it really is" (translation from revised fourth edition).
Wittgenstein first mentions games in section 3 of Philosophical Investigations and then develops this discussion of games into the key notion of a language game. Wittgenstein's use of the term language game "is meant to bring into prominence the fact that the speaking of language is part of an activity, or of a life-form". A central feature of language games is that language is used in context and cannot be understood outside of that context. Wittgenstein lists the following as examples of language games: "Giving orders, and obeying them"; "describing the appearance of an object, or giving its measurements"; "constructing an object from a description (a drawing)"; "reporting an event"; "speculating about an event". The famous example is the meaning of the word "game". We speak of various kinds of games: board games, betting games, sports, and "war games". These are all different uses of the word "games". Wittgenstein also gives the example of "Water!", which can be used as an exclamation, an order, a request, or an answer to a question. The meaning of the word depends on the language game in which it is used. Another way Wittgenstein makes the point is that the word "water" has no meaning apart from its use within a language game. One might use the word as an order to have someone else bring you a glass of water. But it can also be used to warn someone that the water has been poisoned.