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Ludwig Wittgenstein: Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
Ludwig Wittgenstein Tractatus LogicoPhilosophicus Author:Ludwig Wittgenstein The "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus" was Ludwig Wittgenstein's attempt to solve all philosophical problems. It was also of the most important intellectual works of the 20th century, arguably as important as Bertrand Russell's and Whitehead's 'Principa Mathematica', Heidigger's 'Being and Time', and Husserl's 'Logical Investigations.' Ludwig Wit... more »tgenstein's little work, beautiful in its logical simplicity and purity, can be regarded as the manifesto of analytical philosophy in the 20th century. "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus" is essentially a work dealing with epistemology, what we can and cannot know about the world. In it, Ludwig Wittgenstein looks at how we use language and logic to describe the world. If we can solve the inherent logical ambiguity of language, we can then solve philosophical problems which are in fact simply faults which come from lack of logical coherence or clarity when we use language to make certain statements about things and the relationship between things. A number of propositions included in "Tractatus Logico-Philosophus" deal with logical problems explored by Russell, Frege and others. Some of these are very abstract and subtle and require careful study to properly understand. Ludwig Wittgenstein later abandoned many of the statements he made in the "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus," choosing to focus on problems with language rather than logic. While the ambitions of Wittgenstein to solve all problems by clearing up our usage of language may seem excessive looking back, the clarity and precision of this work is admirable and the project worthwhile. For this and for many other reasons, "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus" remains a work worth studying carefully and with sympathy, even after a century or so after its publication.« less