Ludwig wittgenstein

Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein (1889 -1951), the Austrian-British philosopher, was primarily involved in studies on logic, the philosophy of Mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He has been an exceptional inspiration to some of the significant philosophical movements of the twentieth century including the Vienna Circle and the Oxford ordinary language philosophy. While his great influence over the various aspects of philosophical knowledge is widely accepted, there have been several ardent critics of Wittgenstein’s position on the limits of language and his desertion of empirical explanation for linguistic description in his later works. However, his role as the chief influence on the development of analytic philosophy and the studies on logic, language, perception, intention, ethics, religion, aesthetics, and culture etc cannot be outshined by many in the modern philosophy. ” Considered by some to be the greatest philosopher of the 20th century, Ludwig Wittgenstein played a central, if controversial, role in 20th-century analytic philosophy. He continues to influence current philosophical thought in topics as diverse as logic and language, perception and intention, ethics and religion, aesthetics and culture.” (Biletzki) Therefore, it is obvious that Ludwig Wittgenstein has left his imprints on the philosophical thought of the contemporary world and his significance as a great philosopher of logic, Mathematics, mind, and the language needs to be appropriately recognized. A profound analysis of the life and works of this great genius helps one in recognizing the true merit of his philosophies and in admitting that Wittgenstein was exact and correct about the philosophical positions he held. This paper takes up such a reflective analysis of the philosophical ideas of Wittgenstein who needs yet to be understood exactly and properly and it is an endeavor to recognize this philosopher as acceptable in what he propagated.
To comprehend the master argument of Wittgenstein, one needs to recognize the existence of intentionality as a remarkable fact and Wittgenstein was concerned with the conditions that result in intentionality. ” Wittgenstein’s central preoccupation was with the question of the conditions for the possibility of intentionality… Wittgenstein’s central insight is that intentionality can only be made sense of from within a conception of a self with an attitude to the world, an attitude which is that of a will – an agent. The subject with intentionality is fundamentally an agent.” (Luntley, 1) Therefore, it is essential to comprehend the master arguments of Wittgenstein in a wider perspective and, then, the role of this philosopher in the building of modern philosophic views becomes lucid.
One of the main arguments of Wittgenstein’s philosophy of language is that problems in philosophy are grammatical in content and the lack of knowledge of grammar makes the claims blurred. His Tractatus Logico Philosophicus (TLP) has not been clearly understood by many other philosophers and Wittgenstein needs to be realized as very different from all of them. Significantly, ” his attempt was not only a method, unlike Descartes, Hume and Kant. His is not just an epistemology but a philosophy of linguistic interpretation. A seminal idea that brought into life new thinkers that develop what he has started. The philosophies of Searle, Austin, Carnapp, Anscombe and the rest of the philosophers of language like Gadamer and Habermas always remember the name with so much adoration.” Therefore, the ideas and philosophies of this significant philosopher should be treated distinctively to other types of analyses. In fact, his philosophies, which are often criticized in the contemporary world, have become the basis of several well accepted ideas of the modern times. In conclusion, an unbiased and clear understanding of Wittgenstein’s philosophical claims substantiates that Wittgenstein was correct and apposite about what he proclaimed.
Works Cited
Biletzki, Anat. ” Ludwig Wittgenstein.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2006. 02 April, 2009. .
Luntley, Michael. Wittgenstein: meaning and judgment. New York: Wiley-Blackwell. 2003. P 1.