Philosophical Investigations by ludwig wittgenstein

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Its_Judd

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

July 15,2025

Okay, I'm not going to pretend I have actually made it through this entire thing yet.

I'm just not that smart and I definitely don't have that kind of time on my hands.

However, Ludwig is a genius.

He is extremely intelligent and has an amazing mind.

His intellectual abilities are truly remarkable.

And look at how hot he was.

He had a certain charm and attractiveness that was hard to ignore.

His appearance was captivating and he had a presence that drew people to him.

Overall, Ludwig is not only a genius but also a very appealing person.

I can only admire his qualities from afar.

Maybe one day, I'll be able to understand even a fraction of his genius.

Until then, I'll continue to be in awe of him.

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vighneshq

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

July 15,2025

The analysis of this book is probably not possible in a foolish way like mine. Therefore, it is not necessary to take the opinions with a very great importance.

When reading, the first thing that comes to mind is that the book is not like the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. The last few parts of this book, which was written a few days before his death, were compiled by the editors, which Wittgenstein might have excluded himself.

So, what is this book about? What is the purpose?

Let's state the purpose first. In his own words, the purpose is:

464. My aim is: to teach you to pass from a piece of disguised nonsense to something that is patent nonsense.

At the beginning of the book, a concept called language-game is introduced. According to him, there are separate sub-languages or language games apart from the context of language. In these language games, the meaning of words, sentence structure, and the way of meaning determination can all be different from what we generally think of a language.

Thought, sensation, physiology, and psychology have come into this discussion.

The type of this book is a bit interesting. If you have enough experience in life, you will actually have many interconnected thoughts that are not within the scope of any one subject. You will want to talk about these types of thoughts, but if you talk, you will have to move from one subject to another so much that you will not write thinking about consistency and comprehensibility. This book is the type of book that thinkers are afraid to write.

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Kelraz

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

July 15,2025

My professor did not lie.

Wittgenstein's ideas on language are indeed very complex. He emphasized this point repeatedly, almost as if he said it ten times.

Nevertheless, his work is a great theoretical achievement. It presents an incredibly interesting methodology that I always associate with his writings and lectures.

Thanks to Wittgenstein, one now understands that language has never been a simple matter. It is a rich and multifaceted phenomenon that requires in-depth study and analysis.

His ideas have had a profound impact on various fields, including philosophy, linguistics, and psychology.

By exploring the nature and limits of language, Wittgenstein has opened up new avenues of research and understanding.

His work continues to inspire scholars and thinkers around the world to this day.

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curvedtree

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

July 15,2025

I think it is an essential book, not only for philosophy enthusiasts but also for anyone who likes any kind of knowledge.

The author's level of critical analysis around 'knowledge' and the way he presents it in his notes, through revolutionary concepts and ideas that were the foundation for almost all of the scientific philosophy being done currently, enables the reader to acquire a particular 'way of life' and therefore a new way of approaching knowledge.

Wittgenstein does not pretend to formulate a system of thought. As he warns in the prologue, he will only say the ideas he had over the years as a thinker. Therefore, I think it is extremely important to have, before starting to read "Philosophical Investigations", some idea of the author's general thought. This is in order to be able to understand what often might seem like isolated sentences (not quite aphorisms since sometimes it seems that the author is writing notes to himself, which he would later -I suppose- have reformulated if he had not passed away) without context.

It is this unique approach and the depth of his ideas that make this book a must-read for those interested in exploring the nature of knowledge and the way we think.

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ItsAngelAri

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

July 15,2025

I read about the first half of this book and then stopped.

For the most part, it presents the story of a philosopher grappling with a problem that I have never encountered. It has always been evident to me that there is a powerful current within Anglo-American logic and philosophy of language that is extremely reductive and naively realist. This current believes that it can somehow bracket or ignore the profound issues raised by its own simplistic epistemological and ontological assumptions simply by pretending they don't apply to its abstract cases.

"We'll just set aside every question regarding how language and logic are employed in the actual world and assume that P is a proposition, whose truth-value lies in its degree of correspondence to the actual'state of affairs,' which we assume is discoverable in principle, as if we had never read or understood Kant."

Wittgenstein came to the realization late in life that language is something acquired and utilized by actual agents. When this is taken seriously, it immediately creates profound problems for a simple correspondence theory of truth. This is what he painstakingly demonstrates in this book, for the most part. And for the right reader at the right time, this book could be like an atomic bomb detonating within their worldview.

Although I can appreciate its construction and brilliance, the larger point is largely lost on me. Moreover, many of the novel and justly famous aspects of his theory, such as his concept of "family resemblances" and language games, were already familiar to me.

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Sesshomaru102

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

July 15,2025

This is the first work by Wittgenstein I’ve ever read. I’ve been terrified of him for years, truth be told. I’ve read a biography by W.W. Bartley III. The main memory I have of that book is of Wittgenstein waiting to be captured in WWI and him humming the second movement of Beethoven’s Seventh. That has always been one of my all-time favourite pieces of music.

The fear has come from the fact Wittgenstein is known as being off-the-scale brilliant. I just assumed he would be too hard to read.

This book is, in fact, quite beautifully written. The ideas are complex at times, but he does all he can to make them clear.

That said, I also know I’ve only skimmed the surface of this one.

This is a book about meaning. It is about how language ‘means’ and the extent to which language allows communication between people. Wittgenstein’s answer is that language is always socially situated.

A philosophical project prior to this was the idea of creating a language that could be unambiguous and purely logical. But Wittgenstein asks if even homophones are really the same.

He also compares language to music, saying “Understanding a sentence is much more akin to understanding a theme in music than one might think.”

All of this makes me think of the difference between ‘effect’ and ‘affect’. I think these two words are homophones in English, but their spelling distinction may be about stressing social superiority.

When people get obsessed with the spellings of ‘there’, ‘their’ and ‘they’re’, it’s about showing off academic capital.

I think this is the idea Wittgenstein is alluding to when he says language is really language games.

When I studied philosophy, someone would always say, “you know, what I see as red might not be anything at all like what you see as red – we just don’t know.” Wittgenstein spends a lot of time talking about pain.

There is much more to this book than I can cover and much more than I’ve even understood. It reminded me of Saussure and Chomsky. But this is a book of questions rather than a book of answers.

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kuriikata

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

July 15,2025

Oh, Wittgenstein.

He is truly a remarkable figure among the major philosophers I have ever delved into. His ideas often seem to cut through the clutter and make a great deal of sense.

However, there are times when his works can still be rather obscure and difficult to fully grasp.

Thankfully, this particular piece is not as impenetrable as his famous Tractatus.

The Tractatus was notoriously complex and dense, leaving many readers scratching their heads.

In contrast, while Wittgenstein's current work still has its challenging moments, it offers more accessible insights and perspectives.

It makes me appreciate his unique approach to philosophy and the depth of his thinking.

Despite the occasional obscurity, I find myself constantly drawn back to his ideas, eager to uncover more of their hidden meanings and significance.

Wittgenstein's work continues to fascinate and intrigue me, and I look forward to further exploring his philosophical contributions.

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mosenco

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

July 15,2025

The only truly great work of philosophy.

This is not just a book; it is an instruction manual on how to make sense.

If one's philosophical reasoning is not guided by the ideas within this book, one is essentially groping in the dark.

Wittgenstein's ideas lie at the core of any philosophy that has value, and thus this book is perhaps the most crucial piece of intellectual work in human history.

Addendum: Many years later, I will add to this review simply to state that, although this review is much more forcefully worded than I would express now, Philosophical Investigations still remains unique in my mind as a seminal work that anyone who wishes to reason about the world must take seriously.

It is a work that challenges our assumptions and forces us to think deeply about the nature of language, thought, and reality.

Wittgenstein's insights are profound and far-reaching, and his work continues to influence philosophers and thinkers today.

Whether you are a professional philosopher or simply someone interested in exploring the big questions of life, Philosophical Investigations is a must-read.

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Philosophical Investigations

ludwig wittgenstein g.e.m. anscombe

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