[Wittgenstein]Philosophische Untersuchungen

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Philosophische Untersuchungen
Ludwig Wittgenstein
ISBN10 9085062888
ISBN13 9789085062882 Publisher: Boom

OVERVIEW:

The 'Philosophische Untersuchungen' was never completed by Ludwig Wittgenstein himself. He had worked out a number of thoughts and questions which make up the entire work, but page one had included a short passage which is characteristic for this work and for is method of development. The passage can be read below.
In the Untersuchungen Wittgenstein's 'linguistic turn' from his Tractatus is clearly articulated by the questions concerning the beetle in the box. A must for everyone interested in the philosophy of language, logic, ontology and philosophical questions in general.

PRO'S:

The many questions Wittgenstein asks himself and thereby the reader make for a very introspective read.
By asking questions Wittgenstein accomplishes to set a clear line of reasoning, without using predications and therefore no errors in reading definitions can occur.
The language-game only has to played in the readers head.
The simplicity of the words used make this work accessible to one and all.

CON'S:

If one would think the lack of clear predications a con, this would be the only con Wittgenstein has left in this work.
The work has been published in a somewhat disorderly manner.[1]

HIGHLIGHTS:

By leaving out predications Wittgenstein clearly shows that predications are not important. The difference between the predications and the things-in-themselves are made clear.
His ontology is presented clear and simple.
By taking away predications one step at a time the process of forming them is shown, leaving many questions.

NOTABLE QUOTE:

[INDENT]
Die meisten sind bloster Abfall."

"This copybook contains almost exclusively bad sentences. Many of these can give an impulse to better imaginings. Most of these are merely garbage."
[/INDENT]RATING: 9.5

[1] Wittgenstein himself had not deemed it ready for publication yet. The people who published it placed the writings in this order and decided what to place ad what not to place.
[2] 'Angreif' Was a word that was indiscernible. The text was a handwritten copy of Wittgenstein's original. At the very least it fits the translation, but I am not entirely sure of my choice of word.

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@Arjen,

Part I, which is the major portion of the work was more or less completed by Wittgenstein himself, although the final form it might have taken if he had published it himself, is open to conjecture.

Most of the work consists of a related series of questions, observations and remarks, or as he calls them, "sketches of landscapes" (Preface) in a style that is philosophically unique to his new way of thinking. In defense of this conversational style, which arose "out of the very nature of his investigation", he writes:
"I should not like my writing to spare other people the trouble of thinking. But, if possible, to stimulate someone to thoughts of his own.
"I should have like to produce a good book. This has not come about, but the time is past in which I could improve it."

The book has been deservedly influential both as to its conclusions as well as its method of looking at problems.

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@jgweed,

If you want this text in a critical edition, let's say when you are a real die-hard Wittgenstein fan, there is:

Philosophische Untersuchungen : Kritisch-genetische Edition / Ludwig Wittgenstein ; Herausgegeben van Joachim Schulte in Zusammenarbeit mit Heikki Nyman, Eike von Savigny und Georg Henrik von Wright. - Frankfurt-am-Main : Suhrkamp Verlag, 2001. - 1164 p. ; 22 cm.

Collation here being that of the Lizenzausgabe of the Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft Darmstadt. Searched it from cover to cover but no ISBN, just the WBG-Bestellnummer (15938-1). The WBG has good stuff, if you know german that is ;-) . What's the relation with this Boom-edition? Is it also some kind of Lizenzausgabe? Boom published a dutch translation in the seventies, based on a bilingual text-edition from 1953. It may be important to mention that this book is well known in english as the "Philosophical Investigations" (many editions). It might be better known under this title than under the german one (compare to Popper's "Logik der Forschung", aka "The Logic of Scientific Discovery"). Not going to do any bibliographic research though. Ask your local librarian ;-) .

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[Wittgenstein]Philosophische Untersuchungen

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