An Analysis of Ludwig Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations (The Macat Library)

"Many still consider Ludwig Wittgenstein's 1953 Philosophical Investigations to be one of the breakthrough works of twentieth-century philosophy. The book sets out a radically new conception of philosophy itself, and demonstrates all the attributes of a fine analytical mind. Taking an argument from Plato and subjecting it to detailed (and very clear) analysis, Wittgenstein shows his understanding of how the sequence and function of differing parts of a highly-complex argument can be broken down and assessed. In so doing, he reaches a logical position of simultaneous agreement and disagreement with Plato's philosophical position. Philosophical Investigations is also a powerful example of the skill of interpretation. Philosophical problems often arise from confusions in the use of language - and the way to solve these problems, Wittgenstein posits, is by clarifying language use. He argues that philosophers must study ordinary uses of language and examine how people use it as a tool in their everyday lives. In this highly-interpretative way, the meaning of a word or sentence becomes relative to the context (people, culture, community) in which it is used. Rather than debate abstract problems, Wittgenstein urges philosophers to concern themselves with ordinary life and the concrete situations in which humans find themselves."--Provided by publisher "Betty Friedan's book The Feminine Mystique is possibly the best-selling of all the titles analysed in the Macat library, and arguably one of the most important. Yet it was the product of an apparently minor, meaningless assignment. Undertaking to approach former classmates who had attended Smith College with her, 10 years after their graduation, the high-achieving Friedan was astonished to discover that the survey she had undertaken for a magazine feature revealed a high proportion of her contemporaries were suffering from a malaise she had thought was unique to her: profound dissatisfaction at the 'idea©l'; lives they had been living as wives, mothers and homemakers. For Friedan, this discovery stimulated a remarkable burst of creative thinking, as she began to connect the elements of her own life together in new ways. The popular idea that men and women were equal, but different--that men found their greatest fulfilment through work, while women were most fulfilled in the home--stood revealed as a fallacy, and the depression and even despair she and so many other women felt as a result was recast not as a failure to adapt to a role that was the truest expression of femininity, but as the natural product of undertaking repetitive, unfulfilling and unremunerated labor. Friedan's seminal expression of these new ideas redefined an issue central to many women's lives so successfully that it fuelled a movement--the 'second wav©e'; feminism of the 1960s and 1970s that fundamentally challenged the legal and social framework underpinning an entire society."--Provided by publisher Cover 1 Title Page 2 Copyright Page 3 Table of Contents 4 WAYS IN TO THE TEXT 10 Who Was Ludwig Wittgenstein? 10 What Does Philosophical Investigations Say? 11 Why Does Philosophical Investigations Matter? 13 SECTION 1: INFLUENCES 15 Module 1: The Author and the Historical Context 16 Module 2: Academic Context 21 Module 3: The Problem 25 Module 4: The Author’s Contribution 30 SECTION 2: IDEAS 34 Module 5: Main Ideas 35 Module 6: Secondary Ideas 40 Module 7: Achievement 45 Module 8: Place in the Author’s Work 50 SECTION 3: IMPACT 55 Module 9: The First Responses 56 Module 10: The Evolving Debate 61 Module 11: Impact and Influence Today 66 Module 12: Where Next? 70 Glossary of Terms 75 People Mentioned in the Text 79 Works Cited 86 In Philosophical Investigations , Ludwig Wittgenstein presents a radical approach to the philosophy of language and the mind, setting out a startlingly fresh conception of philosophy itself. Wittgenstein begins from the insight that most philosophical problems trace back to incorrect assumptions about the nature of language. While previous works typically described a problem and debated solutions, Wittgenstein takes the unique approach of treating philosophy not as a theory, but as an activity. He urges philosophers to concern themselves with ordinary life. Investigations revolutionized English-language philosophy and is consistently cited as one of the most influential works of the century.