The atmosphere surrounding this problem is terrible. Dense clouds of language lie about the crucial point. It is almost impossible to get through to it.
ludwig Wittgensteinquotes
1889 - 1951
With his fame spreading far beyond academia, Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) is considered one of the greatest philosophers of the 20th century, and his work central to analytic philosophy. Poets, playwrights, filmmakers, and artists of all kinds have been fascinated by the British philosopher’s work and charismatic personality. Though suicide tempted him in life, when he did die from prostate cancer in 1951, Wittgenstein’s last words were, “Tell them I’ve had a wonderful life.”
After studying aerodynamics and reading works of Bertrand Russell, Wittgenstein became obsessed with logic. He went to Trinity College to study under Russell and they formed a strong bond. He wrote voraciously at this time and developed what came to be known as his “picture theory of meaning.” However, always the perfectionist, he published nothing.
Wittgenstein didn’t believe an honest philosopher should stay in academia, so he joined the military, worked as a gardener, and as a schoolmaster as well. “Genius or death” was his mantra. So strong was his stance that man must free himself from earthly desires and attain his genius at the expense of all else.
Obsessed with creating a work of genius, when Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus was published, he wrote that he had solved all the essential problems of philosophy. Later, he acknowledged there was more to know. Now, he viewed philosophy not as a construct of theories, but as an activity to clear up the misunderstandings of language. There is no correct doctrine, he said, only clear views (Philosophical Investigations). Most of his works were published posthumously, with many still awaiting publication.
For remember that in general we don’t use language according to strict rules – it hasn’t been taught to us by means of strict rules, either. We, in our discussions on the other hand, constantly compare language with a calculus preceding to exact rules.
My day passes between logic, whistling, going for walks, and being depressed. I wish to God that I were more intelligent and everything would finally become clear to me – or else that I needn’t live much longer.
Tell me,” Wittgenstein’s asked a friend, “why do people always say, it was natural for man to assume that the sun went round the earth rather than that the earth was rotating?” His friend replied, “Well, obviously because it just looks as though the Sun is going round the Earth.” Wittgenstein replied, “Well, what would it have looked like if it had looked as though the Earth was rotating?
A logical picture of facts is a thought.
I want to say: We use judgments as principles of judgment.
As there is only a logical necessity, so there is only a logical impossibility.
[Philosophy] must set limits to what can be thought; and, in doing so, to what cannot be thought. It must set limits to what cannot be thought by working outwards through what can be thought.
limits / philosophy / Thought
Religion as madness is a madness springing from irreligiousness.
The philosophical I is not the man, not the human body or the human soul of which psychology treats, but the metaphysical subject, the limit – not a part of the world.