What do we intend to convey by this unusual title for a study in Philosophy? There is a widespread view that philosophy is some sort of abstract, out of the world, speculative subject that it has nothing to do with our ordinary and everyday life. It is true that much of classical Philosophy fits the bill in this description, but we do not intend to belittle the important roles played by it at various periods of history. However, the surge of scientific thinking due to advancements in empirical sciences put paid to the uncontrollable speculative onslaughts of Philosophy on human thinking. This new-found independence of sciences from Philosophy tended to tilt the scale in the other direction of extolling the might of the sciences, especially, Physics, against Philosophy, Theology, Religious and Moral Studies and humanities in general. This trend was accentuated by the Principle of Verification of the Logical Positivists of the Vienna Circle of the 1920s and 30s with the tacit support of the great Philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, so they thought, who repudiated their claims.
Ludwig Wittgenstein practiced Philosophy as an activity and the only other philosopher with whom he may be remotely compared in this is Socrates of the ancient Greek Philosophy. However, Wittgenstein's activity of Philosophy was within the Philosophy of Language, while Socrates used the methodology of question and answer with his disciples to elucidate the problems surrounding human life. Wittgenstein's understanding of Philosophy as an activity was developed in his later years from the year 1929 onward posthumously published as "Philosophical Investigations", before which he was under the spell of Logic expressed in his only published book during his lifetime titled: "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus". Besides this, the only published item during his life time was an article in 1929 on 'Logical Form'. With that article on "Logical Form', which elaborated on 'how things are' or 'the general form of propositions', Wittgenstein started to re-think about the role of Philosophy as an activity.
What we want to do in this Study is to examine our thinking habits in the light of Wittgenstein's method, elaborated especially in his "Philosophical Investigations". For any Philosophical study we need to practice a certain amount of 'abstraction' or 'bracketing off' from our preconceived pet ideas without which one will not be able to see the point intended to be conveyed. This essential condition is all the more required to understand Wittgenstein whose writings are not meant for a casual and passing interest in the midst of other concerns. A meditative attitude is the right atmosphere needed when we study his writings and only after understanding what he intends to say may we ever think of criticizing it. Many authors have criticized him with their own understanding of him only to be shown that they are far from what he intended to say. Therefore, we have to be very cautious not to jump into conclusions thinking that we have Wittgenstein as our support!
Logic is, in a sense, the soul of Philosophy as well as that of language and yet this has to be correctly understood. The common belief that 'Logic' is something 'pure' and 'abstract' and consists in some preconceived rules of thought and language is highly mistaken and has to be seen in our actual use of language. The rules of language are similar to rules in the game of chess, for instance, where we state the rules of the game, not describing their physical properties. The question "What is a word really?" is analogous to "What is a piece in chess?" (Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, paragraph, 108. Hereafter, P.I., para.)
a
Ludwig Wittgenstein practiced Philosophy as an activity and the only other philosopher with whom he may be remotely compared in this is Socrates of the ancient Greek Philosophy. However, Wittgenstein's activity of Philosophy was within the Philosophy of Language, while Socrates used the methodology of question and answer with his disciples to elucidate the problems surrounding human life. Wittgenstein's understanding of Philosophy as an activity was developed in his later years from the year 1929 onward posthumously published as "Philosophical Investigations", before which he was under the spell of Logic expressed in his only published book during his lifetime titled: "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus". Besides this, the only published item during his life time was an article in 1929 on 'Logical Form'. With that article on "Logical Form', which elaborated on 'how things are' or 'the general form of propositions', Wittgenstein started to re-think about the role of Philosophy as an activity.
What we want to do in this Study is to examine our thinking habits in the light of Wittgenstein's method, elaborated especially in his "Philosophical Investigations". For any Philosophical study we need to practice a certain amount of 'abstraction' or 'bracketing off' from our preconceived pet ideas without which one will not be able to see the point intended to be conveyed. This essential condition is all the more required to understand Wittgenstein whose writings are not meant for a casual and passing interest in the midst of other concerns. A meditative attitude is the right atmosphere needed when we study his writings and only after understanding what he intends to say may we ever think of criticizing it. Many authors have criticized him with their own understanding of him only to be shown that they are far from what he intended to say. Therefore, we have to be very cautious not to jump into conclusions thinking that we have Wittgenstein as our support!
Logic is, in a sense, the soul of Philosophy as well as that of language and yet this has to be correctly understood. The common belief that 'Logic' is something 'pure' and 'abstract' and consists in some preconceived rules of thought and language is highly mistaken and has to be seen in our actual use of language. The rules of language are similar to rules in the game of chess, for instance, where we state the rules of the game, not describing their physical properties. The question "What is a word really?" is analogous to "What is a piece in chess?" (Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, paragraph, 108. Hereafter, P.I., para.)
a
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