One of the most important and original philosophers of the 20th Century, Ludwig Wittgenstein influenced philosophical movements (Logical Positivism, Linguistic Philosophy, Logical Behaviourism) and our very conception of the nature of Philosophy. Beginning with the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1921) and its picture theory of meaning, this course examines Wittgenstein's Tractarian integration of logic, language, representation, and reality. The course then examines Wittgenstein's intermediate (1929-34) criticism of the Tractatus and his unorthodox views on scientific hypotheses and the illusion of mathematical truth, culminating in an examination of Wittgenstein's later discussions (primarily in Philosophical Investigations) of rules, rule-following, language-games, private languages, mind, and certainty.
One of the most important and original philosophers of the 20th Century, Ludwig Wittgenstein influenced philosophical movements (Logical Positivism, Linguistic Philosophy, Logical Behaviourism) and our very conception of the nature of Philosophy. Beginning with the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1921) and its picture theory of meaning, this course examines Wittgenstein's Tractarian integration of logic, language, representation, and reality. The course then examines Wittgenstein's intermediate (1929-34) criticism of the Tractatus and his unorthodox views on scientific hypotheses and the illusion of mathematical truth, culminating in an examination of Wittgenstein's later discussions (primarily in Philosophical Investigations) of rules, rule-following, language-games, private languages, mind, and certainty.
