Wittgenstein, Ludwig Josef Johann

I

Introduction

Wittgenstein, Ludwig Josef Johann (1889-1951), Austrian-British philosopher, one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century, who was particularly noted for his contribution to the movement known as analytic and linguistic philosophy.

II

Life

Born in Vienna on April 26, 1889, Wittgenstein was raised in a wealthy and cultured family. After attending schools in Linz and Berlin, he moved to Britain to study engineering at the University of Manchester. His interest in pure mathematics led him to Trinity College, Cambridge University, to study with Bertrand Russell. There he turned his attention to philosophy. By 1918 Wittgenstein had completed his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1921; trans. 1922), a work he then believed provided the “final solution” to philosophical problems. Subsequently, he turned away from philosophy and for several years taught schoolchildren in an Austrian village. In 1929 he returned to Cambridge to resume his work in philosophy and was appointed to the faculty of Trinity College. He soon began to reject certain conclusions of the Tractatus and to develop the position reflected in his Philosophical Investigations (published posthumously in 1953; trans. 1953).

A sensitive, intense man who often sought solitude and was frequently depressed, Wittgenstein abhorred pretence and was noted for his simple style of life and dress. He was forceful and confident in personality, however, and exerted considerable influence on those with whom he came into contact. Wittgenstein retired in 1947 and died in Cambridge on April 29, 1951.

III

Work

Wittgenstein’s philosophical life may be divided into two distinct phases: an early period, represented by the Tractatus, and a later period, represented by the Philosophical Investigations. Throughout most of his life, however, he consistently viewed philosophy as linguistic or conceptual analysis. In the Tractatus he argued that “philosophy aims at the logical clarification of thoughts”. In the Philosophical Investigations, however, he maintained that “philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language”.

A

The Tractatus

Language, Wittgenstein argued in the Tractatus, is composed of complex propositions that can be analysed into less complex propositions until one arrives at simple or elementary propositions. Correspondingly, the world is composed of complex facts that can be analysed into less complex facts until one arrives at simple, or atomic, facts. The world is the totality of these facts. According to Wittgenstein’s picture theory of meaning, it is the nature of elementary propositions logically to picture atomic facts, or “states of affairs”. He claimed that the nature of language required elementary propositions, and his theory of meaning required that there be atomic facts pictured by the elementary propositions. On this analysis, only propositions that picture facts—the propositions of science—are considered cognitively meaningful. Metaphysical and ethical statements are not meaningful assertions. This theory had an effect on the doctrine of positivism, as the logical positivists associated with the Vienna Circle were greatly influenced by this conclusion.