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Elucidating the Tractatus: Wittgenstein's Early Philosophy of Language and Logic
Marie McGinn provides a clear, comprehensive, and original interpretation of Wittgenstein's Tractatus and of its relation to Wittgenstein's later work. The Tractatus is one of the most famous works of early analytic philosophy, the interpretation of which has always been a matter for controversy and is currently the focus for an important philosophical debate.
- GenresPhilosophy
332 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
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About the author
Marie McGinn
10 books7 followersEmeritus Professor at York University
Research interests:
Philosophy of Wittgenstein, Scepticism, Philosophy of John McDowell, Philosophy of Mind
Research interests:
Philosophy of Wittgenstein, Scepticism, Philosophy of John McDowell, Philosophy of Mind
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 14, 2023
Bear with me with a lengthy preamble for a bit (or you can skip right to review at 2);
1) My introduction to actual philosophical reading is on Karl Popper's definition of absolute truth (via some simplification and amendment by George Soros) from the book the age of the fallibility. From then onwards, I was always fascinated with philosophical thought. I was fascinated by Hume, Kant and Nietzsche in particular before coming upon Wittgenstein. Knowing that Karl Popper was representation of Logical Positivist whom were quite inspired by Tractatus-Logico Philosophicus (TLP) was a pleasant surprise.
1.1) Unfortunately, being a layman, understanding philosophy is especially hard. I brought a copy of TLP (Ogden translation) and had trouble making a tail or head out of it. Despite being so incredibly short for a philosophical ideas, TLP was an especially difficult read. Even more so, considering the fact that I had finished reading Philosophical Investigation (PI) at this point and thought Witty was an absolutely illuminating when it comes to his philosophical idea (Although I have no idea why he was revered suchlike by many).
2) Thus, it was such a pleasant to come upon Marie McGinn's elucidation. Now I know why Witty is revered. Now I have much deeper appreciation for PI. TLP is perhaps one of the most important philosophical ideas. A milestone, where perhaps, metaphysics as it were espoused in classical philosophy is finally coming to an end. Witty can be seen as natural progression toward structuralist and eventually postmodernist philosophy and McGinn clarification is quite honestly is brilliant.
3) However, for those intent on reading Marie McGinn's book, (those here referring to layman who have not grasped Witty TLP's like me) I would like to recommend for you to skip chapter 1 and start with chapter 2 onwards (Wittgenstein's critique of Frege and Russel). The reason for this is chapter 1 read as a summary. For me, reading chapter 1 the first time is quite confusing, it might as well be in Greek. (The author did explain in the preface on the structure of the book. So this isn't exactly a revelation).
4) In short, I feel like I have completed my philosophical circuit from Popper to Witty and my actual foray is just about to begin and it wouldn't be possible with McGinn books. That being said, whether or not McGinn interpretation is convincing, I leave it up to you. Neither does McGinn insist that her interpretation is authoritative one either but she made a really compelling argument.
5) And lastly, because I always wanted to do this since started to understand the structure of TLP...here it is the 7 core argument in TLP listed;
1...The World is everything that is the case
2...What is the case, the fact is the existent of atomic facts
3...The logical picture of the facts is the thought
4...The thought is the significant proposition
5...Propositions are truth-function of elementary propositions (An elementary proposition is a truth-function of itself)
6...The general form of a truth-function is [¯p, ¯ξ,N(¯ξ)]. This is the general form of a proposition
7...Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent
P/S: Shoutout to Victor Gijsbers on Youtube for his excellent effort in trying to create a simplest explanation possible for TLP. He had done from preface to 3.5. I am excited to hear the rest of his takes.
1) My introduction to actual philosophical reading is on Karl Popper's definition of absolute truth (via some simplification and amendment by George Soros) from the book the age of the fallibility. From then onwards, I was always fascinated with philosophical thought. I was fascinated by Hume, Kant and Nietzsche in particular before coming upon Wittgenstein. Knowing that Karl Popper was representation of Logical Positivist whom were quite inspired by Tractatus-Logico Philosophicus (TLP) was a pleasant surprise.
1.1) Unfortunately, being a layman, understanding philosophy is especially hard. I brought a copy of TLP (Ogden translation) and had trouble making a tail or head out of it. Despite being so incredibly short for a philosophical ideas, TLP was an especially difficult read. Even more so, considering the fact that I had finished reading Philosophical Investigation (PI) at this point and thought Witty was an absolutely illuminating when it comes to his philosophical idea (Although I have no idea why he was revered suchlike by many).
2) Thus, it was such a pleasant to come upon Marie McGinn's elucidation. Now I know why Witty is revered. Now I have much deeper appreciation for PI. TLP is perhaps one of the most important philosophical ideas. A milestone, where perhaps, metaphysics as it were espoused in classical philosophy is finally coming to an end. Witty can be seen as natural progression toward structuralist and eventually postmodernist philosophy and McGinn clarification is quite honestly is brilliant.
3) However, for those intent on reading Marie McGinn's book, (those here referring to layman who have not grasped Witty TLP's like me) I would like to recommend for you to skip chapter 1 and start with chapter 2 onwards (Wittgenstein's critique of Frege and Russel). The reason for this is chapter 1 read as a summary. For me, reading chapter 1 the first time is quite confusing, it might as well be in Greek. (The author did explain in the preface on the structure of the book. So this isn't exactly a revelation).
4) In short, I feel like I have completed my philosophical circuit from Popper to Witty and my actual foray is just about to begin and it wouldn't be possible with McGinn books. That being said, whether or not McGinn interpretation is convincing, I leave it up to you. Neither does McGinn insist that her interpretation is authoritative one either but she made a really compelling argument.
5) And lastly, because I always wanted to do this since started to understand the structure of TLP...here it is the 7 core argument in TLP listed;
1...The World is everything that is the case
2...What is the case, the fact is the existent of atomic facts
3...The logical picture of the facts is the thought
4...The thought is the significant proposition
5...Propositions are truth-function of elementary propositions (An elementary proposition is a truth-function of itself)
6...The general form of a truth-function is [¯p, ¯ξ,N(¯ξ)]. This is the general form of a proposition
7...Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent
P/S: Shoutout to Victor Gijsbers on Youtube for his excellent effort in trying to create a simplest explanation possible for TLP. He had done from preface to 3.5. I am excited to hear the rest of his takes.
October 3, 2024
Excellent
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews