Lectures, Cambridge 1932-35

by Ludwig Wittgenstein, Margaret MacDonald (Contributor), Alice Ambrose (Editor)

Philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein had an enormous influence on twentieth-century philosophy even though only one of his works, the famous Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, was published in his lifetime. Beyond this publication the impact of his thought was mainly conveyed to a small circle of students through his lectures at Cambridge University. Fortunately, many of his ideas have survived in both the dictations that were subsequently published, and the notes taken by his students, among them Alice Ambrose and the late Margaret Macdonald, from 1932 to 1935. These notes, now edited by Professor Ambrose, are here published, and they shed much light on Wittgenstein's philosophical development. Among the topics considered are the meaning of a word and its relation to common usage, rules of grammar and their relation to fact, the grammar of first person statements, language games, and the nature of philosophy. This volume is indispensable to any serious discussion of Wittgenstein's work.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

225 pages, paper

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein (Ph.D., Trinity College, Cambridge University, 1929) was an Austrian-British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language.

Described by Bertrand Russell as "the most perfect example I have ever known of genius as traditionally conceived, passionate, profound, intense, and dominating", he helped inspire two of the twentieth century's principal philosophical movements: the Vienna Circle and Oxford ordinary language philosophy. According to an end of the century poll, professional philosophers in Canada and the U.S. rank both his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and Philosophical Investigations among the top five most important books in twentieth-century philosophy, the latter standing out as "...the one crossover masterpiece in twentieth-century philosophy, appealing across diverse specializations and philosophical orientations". Wittgenstein's influence has been felt in nearly every field of the humanities and social sciences, yet there are widely diverging interpretations of his thought.

Reviews

[Douglas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book contains notes of one Ludwig Wittgenstein's courses at Cambridge University. the notes were taken by Alice Ambrose, a great philosopher in her own right. I would describe this along with other works like the Blue and Brown books as composing the middle Wittgenstein. The lectures pertain philosophy of language and mathematics. You can begin to see Wittgenstein's turn towards formalism and the thinking on language that would eventually find full expression in the philosophical investigations.

"There is no retreat in mathematics except in the gaseous part. You may find that some of mathematics is uninteresting-that Cantor’s paradise is not a paradise." -Ludgwig Wittgenstein

[David Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wittgenstein is a marvelous thinker, and this lecture collection is a wonderful intro to how he thinks, and his willingness to shift his views in light of new information. Obviously he is a bit dull to begin with, but his analysis of the nature of language is indispensable in this postmodern era of thought.

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for an independent study project conducted by Dr. William Ellos S.J. as Loyola University Chicago.