Wittgenstein's Hermeneutics
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) was born into one of the wealthiest families of the Austro- Hungarian Empire. His father, owner of much of Austria’s iron and steel industry, encouraged him to study engineering in Berlin and Manchester but, during his studies, Wittgenstein wrestled with Philosophical questions and soon sought out Bertrand Russell, who was lecturing in Philosophy at Cambridge University. Wittgenstein quickly became Russell’s favourite pupil; in fact he was considered by Russell to be more of a contemporary Philosopher than a student. But within two years he had left his tutelage to live in seclusion in Norway in order to focus his thinking in the field of logic.
Wittgenstein left Norway and returned home to Austria on the eve of the First World War and was taken prisoner by the Italians while serving in the Austrian army. By the end of the war he had finished his first (and only complete) book Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, published in 1921. Tractatus, for Wittgenstein, brought all philosophical pursuits to an end; for him Tractatus was the last word. Having solved the problem of Philosophical problems he became, for a short unsuccessful and miserable time, a kindergarten teacher and then architect before returning to Cambridge to take up Philosophy again , in 1929. He had come to the realisation that the “Tractatus did not, after all, provide the final solution to all the problems of philosophy.”1
Between the years of 1929 to 1951, Wittgenstein crafted a unique approach to Philosophy which built on his earlier work in Tractatus; his belief was that philosophy should not be engaged with as a science or in any way similar to science. Philosophy, for Wittgenstein, was not a body of codes and rules but an activity; Philosophy, for Wittgenstein, was the process of clarifying the confusion created by language.2
Wittgenstein begins Philosophical Investigations (PI) with one of many metaphors employed in the book. He says that language does not
Wittgenstein left Norway and returned home to Austria on the eve of the First World War and was taken prisoner by the Italians while serving in the Austrian army. By the end of the war he had finished his first (and only complete) book Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, published in 1921. Tractatus, for Wittgenstein, brought all philosophical pursuits to an end; for him Tractatus was the last word. Having solved the problem of Philosophical problems he became, for a short unsuccessful and miserable time, a kindergarten teacher and then architect before returning to Cambridge to take up Philosophy again , in 1929. He had come to the realisation that the “Tractatus did not, after all, provide the final solution to all the problems of philosophy.”1
Between the years of 1929 to 1951, Wittgenstein crafted a unique approach to Philosophy which built on his earlier work in Tractatus; his belief was that philosophy should not be engaged with as a science or in any way similar to science. Philosophy, for Wittgenstein, was not a body of codes and rules but an activity; Philosophy, for Wittgenstein, was the process of clarifying the confusion created by language.2
Wittgenstein begins Philosophical Investigations (PI) with one of many metaphors employed in the book. He says that language does not
Bibliography: Edgecombe, Rodney Stenning. “The Interstitial Character of Cardinal Newman’s Meditations and Devotions.” Prose Studies: History, Theory, Criticsm 16, no. 3 (1993): 193–212. Gadamer, Hans Georg. Philosophical hermeneutics. University of California Press, 2008. Guignon, Charles B. “The” Cambridge Companion to Heidegger. Cambridge University Press, 1993. Heidegger, Martin. Being and time: a translation of Sein und Zeit. SUNY series in contemporary continental philosophy. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996. Jeanrond, Werner G. Theological Hermeneutics: Development and Significance. London: SCM Press, 1994. Linge, David E., tran. “Introduction: in Philosophical Hermeneutics.” In Philosophical Hermeneutics. University of California Press, 2008. Monk, Ray. How to Read Wittgenstein. London: Granta, 2005. Wittgenstein, Ludwig. Philosophical Investigations. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1968. ———. The Blue and Brown Books. New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1965. Wittgenstein, Ludwig, David Pears, and Brian McGuinness. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. London; New York: Routledge, 2001.