For the time being, it is advisable to focus solely on reading the blue book. This particular book holds great significance and value. By devoting our attention to it, we can gain in-depth knowledge and understanding on various aspects. It might contain essential information, interesting stories, or valuable insights that can enhance our learning and growth. Reading the blue book carefully and thoroughly allows us to immerse ourselves in its content, explore its ideas, and draw inspiration from it. It is like opening a door to a new world of knowledge and possibilities. So, let's put aside other distractions for now and concentrate on reading the blue book, as it has the potential to offer us a wealth of benefits and a truly enriching experience.

I'm refraining from giving a star review because I'm not certain that my star rating would be a just assessment of the text.

As an individual with a restricted acquaintance with philosophy and logic, and one who mainly reads fiction, my reaction to this text was rather ambivalent.

Wittgenstein was indubitably brilliant, and indeed there were moments when I was captivated by his ideas and propositions.

However, I frequently found myself grappling to maintain interest in the nth repetition of some hypothesized scenario or language game employed to elucidate and rationalize a concept.

It seemed that at times, the text became overly convoluted and abstract, making it a challenge for someone like me, with a more literary bent, to fully engage.

Nonetheless, I recognize the significance and intellectual rigor of Wittgenstein's work, and perhaps with further study and a deeper understanding of the subject matter, I would be able to appreciate it more fully.

For now, I'll withhold my star rating and continue to reflect on what I've read.

Well, I have to admit that I can't claim to fully understand what took place during the time I was reading this. However, what I can say with certainty is that Wittgenstein clearly had a great deal happening in his thoughts and ideas, and I have a deep respect for that.

At the risk of perhaps sounding a bit naïve or uneducated, I must confess that I thoroughly enjoyed the language games he introduced. It was truly fascinating to explore the different ways in which language can be used and manipulated. Moreover, I completely concur with his astute observations regarding the blurriness of our definitions.

When you stop and think about it, it is almost a miracle that language functions as well as it does. Given the inherent vagueness and ambiguity in our words and concepts, it is amazing that we are able to communicate with each other as effectively as we do. Wittgenstein's work has really made me stop and reflect on the complexity and wonder of language.

If you're ever at a party and the conversation lulls, here's an interesting thing to do. Ask your interlocutor to list the vowels from darkest to lightest in color. Alternatively, inquire why we commonly hear the expression "I feel her pain," but never "I feel her toothache"?

Our wavering between logical and physical impossibility often leads us to make statements like this: "If what I feel is always my pain only, what can the supposition mean that someone else has pain?" In such cases, the key is to look at how the words in question are actually used in our language. We tend to think of a use different from the ordinary one, a use that for some reason strongly appeals to us at that moment. When something seems strange about the grammar of our words, it's because we're alternately tempted to use a word in several different ways. It's especially difficult to realize that an assertion made by a metaphysician expresses dissatisfaction with our grammar when the words of that assertion can also be used to state a fact of experience. For example, when he says "only my pain is real pain," this sentence might seem to mean that the others who said they had pains were faking. And when he says "this tree doesn't exist when we turn our backs to it." The person who says "only my pain is real" isn't saying that he's found out through the common criteria (the criteria that give our words their common meaning) that the others were cheating. Instead, he's rebelling against the use of this expression in connection with those criteria. He objects to using the word in the particular way it's commonly used. On the other hand, he's not aware that he's objecting to a convention. He sees a different way of dividing the country than the one on the ordinary map. He's tempted to use the name "Devonshire" not for the county with its conventional boundary, but for a region differently bounded. He might express this by saying: "Isn't it absurd to make this a county, to draw the boundary here?" But what he actually says is: "The real Devonshire is this." We could respond by saying: "What you want is just a new notation, and a new notation doesn't change any facts of geography." However, it's true that we can be irresistibly attracted or repelled by a notation. (We often forget how much a notation or a form of expression can mean to us, and that changing it isn't always as easy as it sometimes is in mathematics or the sciences. A change of clothes or a name may mean very little or a great deal.)

Some of the best descriptions of words ever.

"Many words in this sense then don't have a strict meaning. But this is not a defect. To think it is would be like saying that the light of my reading lamp is no real light at all because it has no sharp boundary."

He wrote the same thing in another elegant way in Philosophical Grammar. There he compares the usefulness of words to the warmth you feel from a stove. Maybe there is no real sharp boundary, but still, it is really useful! The difference between the relation of the meaning of words to a feeling rather than a seeing seems significant to me as well. However, I don't have any real clue as to what the significance could be. It makes me wonder if our understanding of words is more about the emotions and sensations they evoke rather than a clear-cut visual or objective definition. This idea challenges the traditional notion of precise language and makes me think about how we communicate and understand each other on a deeper level.

This is the perfect warm-up to the Investigations.

I firmly believe that a great deal of the misunderstanding and lack of comprehension that numerous people, including several published and "respectable" scholars, encounter with PI is a direct consequence of their failure to commence here.

All the main concepts such as language games and forms of life, etc., are presented in their earlier stages.

Moreover, the break from his picture-theory stuff in the Tractatus is made explicit.

This initial stage serves as a crucial foundation, enabling a better understanding of the more complex ideas that follow in the Investigations.

It is essential for readers to engage with this part thoroughly to avoid falling into the traps of misinterpretation and confusion that often plague the study of PI.

By starting here and carefully examining these fundamental concepts, one can begin to build a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of Wittgenstein's later philosophical work.

I completed the blue book. However, it is far too intricate to go into details here.

The brown book, on the other hand, is essentially an early iteration of his Philosophical Investigations.

Consequently, it is of greater value to peruse those.

Given the complexity of the blue book, it becomes a rather challenging task to comprehensively discuss its contents within the given context.

The brown book, being an early draft of the more renowned Philosophical Investigations, offers unique insights and perspectives.

By reading it, one can gain a better understanding of the evolution of his philosophical thoughts and ideas.

It serves as a precursor to the more developed and refined work, providing a foundation upon which the later investigations are built.

Therefore, it is advisable to focus on reading the brown book to fully appreciate the depth and significance of his philosophical inquiries.

Blue book: It is definitely not intended for publication.

Brown book: It is clearly a "preliminary study" for the principal investigator (PI). However, there are some valuable insights within it. There are some shorter sections that W would extract and expand upon in the PI. Additionally, there are a large number of long passages and examinations of language games that need to be appropriately reduced and made simpler and more relevant to the rules we often have to learn, such as counting and reading. It is worth reading, but one should not overly strain oneself.

Overall, while the blue book is not meant for public dissemination, the brown book holds some promise despite its preliminary nature. The shorter parts can provide useful starting points for further exploration, and the reduction and simplification of the longer passages can make the content more accessible and applicable to our daily learning and understanding of various rules.

I have only read the Blue Book up to this point.

The Blue Book is an interesting and valuable resource that I have recently begun to explore.

It contains a wealth of information on a particular subject, which has piqued my curiosity and kept me engaged.

As I progress through the book, I am learning new things and gaining a deeper understanding of the topic.

I look forward to continuing my reading and uncovering more of the insights and knowledge that the Blue Book has to offer.

Although I have only read a portion of it so far, I can already tell that it will be a worthwhile read.

I am excited to see what else lies ahead in the remaining pages of the Blue Book.

The original article is not provided, so I can't rewrite and expand it specifically. However, I can give you a general example of how to expand an article to about 300 words.

Let's assume the original article is something like: "The importance of exercise. Exercise is good for our health. It helps us stay fit and strong."

Here is the expanded version:

Exercise is of utmost importance for our well-being.

Regular physical activity offers numerous benefits. It not only helps us maintain a healthy weight but also strengthens our muscles and bones.

Moreover, exercise improves our cardiovascular health, reducing the risk of heart diseases and other chronic conditions.

It also has a positive impact on our mental health, relieving stress and anxiety.

By engaging in exercise, we can boost our energy levels and enhance our overall quality of life.

So, make sure to include exercise in your daily routine and reap the rewards of a healthy lifestyle.

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s326/n...

These books launch an all-out assault on correspondence theories of truth, solipsism, and reductionist philosophy.

If you don't have much concern about any of these, you will not find them highly useful or interesting.

For me, James accomplished a better task in a more readable manner several decades earlier.

Even if you have been overly influenced by the Anglo tradition, Wittgenstein doesn't offer much positive to say.

Dewey made similar points and composed volumes filled with insights regarding education, art, and politics.

Some of Wittgenstein's concepts are beneficial, such as families of resemblance (derived from Goethe).

However, I have never been fond of 'language games' as it appears to focus precisely on what he is attempting to lead us away from.

Why not utilize the pragmatist concept of 'experience'?

Wittgenstein cites James more than any other philosopher.

I can only surmise that he felt his approach was essential to communicate with other philosophers in England.

Russell never grasped what Dewey and James were striving to achieve.

Favorite quote: "It can never be our job to reduce anything to anything."

I detect the seed of Iris Murdoch's moral philosophy in this idea.

I had not previously understood what she derived from Wittgenstein.

She also turned away from numerous tedious philosophical questions, but she discovered a means to shed light on ethical questions through descriptions of specific moral dilemmas.

LW has a unique way of presenting his ideas.

He makes few direct assertions but examines them from multiple perspectives.

While the details are presented in a seemingly complete and sound manner, the overall learning outcome may be limited.

Many of his concepts are of a meditative nature, and he takes on a significant amount of authority in guiding the reader through the process of meditating on these ideas.

It appears that he lacks trust in the reader's ability to interpret his assertions or think about his concepts independently.

As a result, he leads the reader through every single meditation step by step.

Even when the reader believes they have a good understanding of what he is trying to convey, LW assumes otherwise and continues to explain and explain to ensure there is no misinterpretation.

In contrast, his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus can be quite overwhelming, like being thrown into the middle of the ocean without a life preserver.

On the other hand, his blue and brown books are more like having him carry you on his back as he swims you across a river that is only two feet deep.

This difference in approach showcases the complexity and diversity of his work.