Why should I read Wittgenstein?

Answer 1

Take a look on wikipedia at his major achievements and make up your own mind whether he interests you.

He's in the monty python philosophers song. "Heidegger, heidegger was a boozy begger. Witgenstein was a beery swine who was just as sloshed as schlagel....".

Answer 2

Wittgenstein is a difficult writer to read. His main contributions were to language and logic, his Tractatuc-Philosophicus deals with to some extent. He distinguishes Logic from the other sciences, which opposes Frege and Russell's ideas. In this work he claimed to have eliminated all the problems of philosophy, but only 10 years later repudiated that very claim. The man was a genius, but an atheistic and confused genius. I assume you have a purpose for reading him or is this more or less recreational? "Here is a hand" is a famous proposition he went on to examine, in his work On Certainty.

Answer 3

You shouldn't. Not at first anyway. Wittgenstein spent a lot of time, arguing or disagreeing with people, so read other first.
Like Tolstoy, or Descartes, or Dostoevsky.
Perhaps, Plato if you want the basis for most of western Philosophy. Descartes for the re-animation of Philosophical thought. Perhaps Heraclitus, for some real old-school Pre-Socratian Philosophy. A J Ayer, & the Gettier counter-examples, the basis for modern thought into knowledge itself (well worth a read, espeacially the Gettier counter-examples to Justified True Belief. Not hard to find, it's the only paper he ever published)...

The list is endless. Just don't start off with Wittgenstein. If you start with him, & he becomes your basis for philosophical writing, you'll find it hard motivating yourself to read philosophy.

Answer 4

Because he solved all the great problems of philosophy - twice !

[Seriously, if you are thinking of doing it, start off with something like 'On Certainty' - it's fairly accessible and gives you a good introduction to where he's coming from. The section's in 'Philosophical Investigations' on the so-called 'private language argument' are pretty central and amenable too.

However, before you embark on reading Wittgenstein, make sure you've got a good grasp of Descartes, Plato, Locke and Hume - they're kind of what he's kicking against.

Don't even think of starting off with the Tractatus - you won't make it past the first couple of propositions before losing the will to live!]

Answer 5

First, 'cause he's important to understand to present moment of the philosophy of language studies, specially the ones on the area of reference (word-object/concept) as well as on the pragmatics. Second, 'cause his "Tractatus", despite the fact that Wittgenstein himself went against its postulations, a very good way to go into the philosophical level of any philosophical study (this considering both the content and the form). And third, Philosophical Investigations traces the lines for the analitical studies of language, which are basic things every language thinker has to, at least, know, to master a little.

That's it.

Ie - B r a z i l

Answer 6

Wittgenstein is not the first philosopher you should read. there are others whose contribution is more basic to the subject as well as easier to understand. These include Descartes, Locke, Hume and Mill. Amongst Wittgenstein's contemporaries they include Russell and Quine. In addition, Ryle's book "The Concept of Mind", published just before Wittgenstein's "Philosophical Investigations", is also highly influential as an argument aginst "The ghost in the machine", and is much more readable.

Having placed Wittgenstein in context, his work is essential reading if you are to understand twentieth century philosophy, particuarly the philosophy of mind and of language, both of which have been crucial for twentieth century advances in thought. This applies both to Wittgenstein's earlier work, the "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus" with its picture theory of truth and the "Philosophical Investigations" which overturned Wittgenstein's earlier ideas with the notion of the language game.

Wittgenstein is difficult to read, or rather to understand. You will need to read one, and probably several, of the many introductions to his works before approaching his main texts, and it will greatly help to go to lectures and/or tutorials on Wittgenstein. One reason is that Wittgenstein believed that philosophical works should stand on their own merit, and as a consequence the influence of previous philosophical thought on his work, for instance Augustine, Frege and Russell, is not always obvious.

A further issue is that Wittgenstein's own ideas gave rise to a belief that the philosopher's personal life is irrelevant to his (or her) thought This belief has been followed by many more recent philosophers, but in Wittgenstein's own case it is very problematic. Wittgenstein's own life was remarkable in many ways, and deeply tortured. It may have led to inluences on his work that neither Wittgenstein nor his interpreters fully appreciate or wish to admit if they do. For this reason I would strongly suggest that you read the standard biography, "Wittgenstein" by Ray Monk, before or alongside your philsophical reading on Wittgenstein.

Answer 7

So that you can narrow down your vocabulary to words that are clear and be aware of the subtle ab usage of common words and meaning and how they shape what you see.

Answer 8

Because he's been assigned in class. I don't know- maybe you need to round out your education in Philosophy?

Answer 9

I'm not sure you should. Only if it improves your being and you have time. :-)

Answer 10

If you're asking, you probably shouldn't.