The Conflicts of Modernity in Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

Description

Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang GmbH, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften, 2016 — 273 p. — ISBN-10: 3631667809; ISBN-13: 978-3631667804.The author offers a new look at one of the most influential books in the history of philosophy: Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. He presents the Tractatus as expressing the intellectual anxieties of its modernist epoch. The most intriguing but usually unanswered question concerning the Tractatus is why Wittgenstein had to think that only propositions of natural science have meaning. The author reviews the most popular interpretations of the Tractatus and comes to the conclusion that the early Wittgenstein was an ethical subjectivist. With this insight, he solves the tension between Tractarian theses that influenced neopositivism and its mystical part.ContentsIntroductionThe Problem of Ontology in the TractatusAnti-metaphysical interpretation of the TractatusThe Argument for SubstanceSummaryThe Simple Objects of the TractatusPhenomenalistic interpretation of the simplesMaterialistic interpretation of the simplesResolute interpretation of the TractatusSummaryWittgenstein's Theory of JudgementThe context of Wittgenstein's theoryWittgenstein's criticism of Russell's views on judgementThe Tractatus 5.54-5.5422Other interpretations of TLP 5.54-5.5422SummaryThe Transcendental SelfThe transcendental philosophy of SchopenhauerThe willing subjectSolipsistic theses of the TractatusTractarian understanding of deathGeneral remarks about the transcendental interpretationSummaryEthics in Wittgenstein's Early WritingsThe nonsense of ethics in the eyes of early WittgensteinEarly Wittgenstein's subjectivismSolipsistic theses of the Tractatus under a subjectivist readingSummaryFinal Thoughts. The Defence of Human Values by early Wittgenstein