Ludwig Wittgenstein
A philosopher who published one book and then took it apart himself. From the "picture theory" of the early Tractatus (1921) to "meaning is use" in the late Investigations (1953), read from the German.
Wittgenstein on Language — From the Picture to the Language-Game
A philosopher who published only one book in his lifetime, then took that book apart himself. The early Tractatus and its "picture theory," and the late Investigations and "meaning is use" — read from the German.
The Picture Theory — "A Proposition Is a Picture of Reality"
In a Paris courtroom, a traffic accident is re-enacted with dolls and toy cars. Wittgenstein saw in that model the secret of the proposition. Why can a model say how the accident went? The first half of the Tractatus, from the German.
"Whereof One Cannot Speak" — The Limits of Language
The most-quoted sentence in twentieth-century philosophy, Tractatus proposition 7. But it is not mysticism for its own sake — it is a conclusion that falls out of the picture theory. What can be said, and what is only "shown"?
Language-Games and "Meaning Is Use"
Is "Slab!" a name or an order? Starting from the language of a building site, Wittgenstein takes apart the plain picture that "words are names of things." The first half of the Investigations, from the German.
Family Resemblance — "Don't Think, But Look!"
What is the essence common to "games"? Wittgenstein does not answer; he gives an order — look. No one fibre runs the whole length of the thread; there are only overlapping strands. Investigations §65–71, which reshaped how we think about categories.
Following a Rule, and the Private Language Argument
Continue the series by "+2." Any way of going on can be made to "accord" with the rule under some interpretation. So what holds the rule up? The hardest stretch of the Investigations, from the German.