The Mechanics of Meaning: Propositional Content and the Logical Space of Wittgenstein's Tractatus

Description

This analysis of Wittgenstein's concept of a Spielraum, in which the author approaches the Tractatus Logico-philosophicus both systematically and from the perspective of the history of philosophy and knowledge, opens up a new and important perspective in Wittgenstein research. In establishing unexpected cross-connections between physics, the theory of perception, and logic, Hyder also makes a valuable contribution to the history of 19th century science. In particular, the links he establishes between early sensory physiology and the logicism of Russell and Frege yield a sharper and more plausible account of the notion of a "space" of possible meanings than has hitherto been available in the secondary literature. In showing this notion to be a formal precursor to that of a language game, the study also provides important pointers for the interpretation of Wittgenstein's late work. Preface Notation 1. Introduction 1.1 Russell’s Theory of Judgment 1.2 Scientific Epistemology and the Theory of Manifolds 1.3 Interpreting Wittgenstein’s Later Philosophy 2. Helmholtz’s Perceptual Manifold 2.1 Manifolds and Perception 2.2 “The Facts in Perception” 2.3 “The Application of the Axioms to the Physical World“ 2.4 Pre-established Harmony 3. Russell’s Theory of Judgment 3.1 The Origins and Purpose of Russell’s Judgment-theory 3.2 Wittgenstein’s Objections 3.3 Constraints on Judgment 4. The Breakdown of Wittgenstein’s Copula-theory 4.1 The Copula-theory 4.2 The ε-copula and the Propositional Form 4.3 The Early Picture Theory 4.4 Wittgenstein’s “Correct Theory of Propositions” 5. Logical Space 5.1 Truth-functions and the “Core Logical Space” 5.2 Manifolds and Quantification: 4.04-4.0411 6. The Picture-theories of Helmholtz, Hertz and Wittgenstein 6.1 The No-man’s-land 6.2 Physical Science 6.3 Models and Manifolds 7. Conclusion Bibliography Index Concordance of Passages from the Tractatus Concordance of Entries in the Notebooks: 1914–1916