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Chapter 95 Milestones in the History of Analytical Philosophy
Chapter 94 Milestones in the History of Analytical Philosophy: Philosophical Studies

Wittgenstein's "Philosophical Investigations" is not only the author's later masterpiece, but also a milestone in the history of the development of analytic philosophy.

Monumental works.This book deals with the problem of the meaning of language in a completely new way, for the method of logical analysis in analytic philosophy

The study of the meaning of language has played a decisive role in focusing on life practice and daily usage of language.Wittgenstein in

Cambridge's presentation of his later insights attracted great interest and attention, and his lecture notes and notes were widely circulated privately.

Circulating, people discussing and playing with his views.Precisely because of his extreme fear that his views and views would be misunderstood, Wittgenstein
It was only then that he decided to sort out his thoughts and officially publish them as a book.

Language Games Philosophy Therapy

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889～1951) is one of the famous modern western philosophers.

In 1953, his German "Philosophical Studies" was translated into English by his favorite student, Ms. Ansikang.
The text is published.Wittgenstein's philosophical career can be divided into two periods. In the early period, he was a logical atomist.

The core of his theory is schema theory. During this period, he focused on logical analysis of language, and openly proposed mysticism and solipsism.

Later, he abandoned logical atomism, replaced schema theory with the concept of language games, and replaced logical analysis with language analysis.
, replacing ideal language with everyday language.

The book "Philosophical Investigations" is divided into two volumes, the first volume has 693 sections, and the second volume has 14 sections.

Wittgenstein gave up the method of logically analyzing language to reveal its true structure, and he learned from the language used by people in actual activities
To start, we first examine simple situations in which people use language.

Wittgenstein considers the use of words, language and the act of using language in circle dancing, termed "

Language games". One of the characteristics of language games is richness and variety. The word "language games" emphasizes that
, speaking a language is part of an activity, or part of a form of life. The Diversity of "Language Games"

To: give orders, execute orders; describe the appearance of a thing, tell its size; according to the description of an object (
(i.e. pattern) to make it; to report a thing; to speculate about a thing; to form and test a hypothesis; to learn from a language
Translate into another language... In short, ask, thank, swear, question, pray—combining the multiplicity of tools in language and
The variety of their use, comparing the variety of parts of speech and sentences with what logicians have said about the structure of language,
is very interesting.

The book on the diversity of language games says that, first of all, the usage of words is diverse.

while the word

Just like the functions of these things, they are various and completely different.

Wittgenstein further pointed out that a sentence is also a tool, and its meaning is to use.He said that the word "meaning" can

Define it this way: the meaning of a word is its use in language.

Language play as an activity is a human activity, a part of all human activities, and is an indispensable

part, it must be based on the common life of human beings.Thus, the notion of "language games" stands out as such a

Fact: Language is part of life.Human life is predicated on the use of language, without language there is no human

Forms of life, life without language is not human life.People have various activities, and the activities of using language are many
one of the activities.This insight laid the foundation stone for his later elucidation of the meaning of language.

Here, the concept of language games is also particularly prominent on the functions of language (that is, the different roles of language in language games).Werther

Genstein believes that there are many words in a language, and there are many sentences, even infinitely many, but different words and sentences
The roles are different and their functions are not interchangeable.

So language may have
quite different functions or roles.

The purpose of the above discussion in "Philosophical Studies" is to tell people that understanding language should not only depend on what kind of logical form it has.

One should not just look at what object it describes, but should understand how it is used in language games.it's here,

He also pointed out that in the language game of using language, the intention of using words and the specific situation of using words are also very important.

The book "Philosophical Investigations" believes that language games should of course have rules, just like games, there is no game without rules.
The most fundamental factor in the game is to abide by the rules.This rule is an aid in teaching others how to play the game.learning games
people are told that rule and practice applying that rule. —Or, the rules are a tool of the game itself. --or

, the rules are not used to teach others, nor are they used in the game itself; nor are they included in a list of rules.people pass
Learn the game by watching how others play it.But we say that the game is played according to such and such rules, because observing
The reader can see these rules from how the game is actually played—like a law of nature governing the game—but in this case

Under these circumstances, how can the observer distinguish whether the player is playing wrong or playing right? - there is something about the rules in the player's behavior

special symbols, even if a person does not know the language, he can see that he is doing it.

Wittgenstein makes an important point.It is impossible for individuals to follow the rules privately.He said what I call "following the rules

"Is it possible that only one person has done it, once in his life?—this is certainly the case for "following the rules"

A grammatical note on a phrase.There can't be only one occasion where a person obeys the rules, there can't be only one occasion where one
A person makes a report, gives an order or understands the order, etc.Obeying the rules, making reports, giving orders, and playing chess are all habits of learning.
Vulgar (usage, system).

Wittgenstein goes further to explain what it means to obey the rules.Following the rules is similar to obeying orders, is no choice, is

blind.In all languages, people are in agreement by way of life, not by agreement of opinion.

The book "Philosophical Investigations" says that "private language" has a specific meaning.One can encourage oneself and give oneself orders

, obey, blame and punish himself, he can ask and answer for himself.But another person cannot understand the language.alone

He cannot use symbols that he only understands to record his own feelings.

To say that feelings are personal is to say that one is alone
Playing a single player game.The main problem with so-called "private experience" is that no one knows whether other people have this or some other experience.
stuff, not everyone has his own samples.

Here a distinction is made between private language and the private use of ordinary language, or secret language, which, in the author's opinion, is

Strictly speaking, neither is a private language, since neither is possible without a public language;

"private rules" in the language, because the words "private" and "rules" together are already contradictory.language
Nor can it be followed without permission, otherwise, it will be no different from true compliance with the rules.

In the book "Philosophical Investigations", the author cited a large number of examples to illustrate that private language cannot exist logically.but

In the book, the possibility of denying the existence of private language is not for purely linguistic purposes, but from the perspective of traditional philosophy

solution for the background.In the British empiricist philosophical tradition, the meaning of all words is regarded as based on private feeling or personal

impression based.In Wittgenstein's view, this view is actually an acknowledgment of private language, based on the

Philosophical views logically necessarily lead ultimately to individual subjectivism.

In Philosophical Investigations, there is also the study of language games, of meaning, and ultimately of explaining and addressing philosophical issues as

A philosopher cannot but ask philosophy itself.Like early philosophy, he believed that philosophy was a metaphysical activity,

The difference is that he believes that philosophy is not a logical activity of clarifying language, but an activity of describing language usage.He said that philosophy actually

is purely descriptive, and we must avoid all illustration and replace it with description only.What is the thing in front of you like?

What it looks like, we just need to describe it.Philosophical description is not a description of the object of experience using language, but

Describe in language itself, i.e. it is what we describe, illustrate, report, narrate, request, order, joke, etc.

How to use language when waiting.Philosophical descriptions are more importantly in ordinary everyday language, how we usually use words and
Phrase.The purpose of Wittgenstein's emphasis on philosophy as descriptive is to deny that philosophy is a kind of theory, and to make philosophy

Learn to see as an activity.Emphasize that philosophy is a technique of language analysis, and require philosophers to become technicians of daily language analysis
, is the core of this view.

Therefore, this book further points out that in fact, under normal circumstances, there are no philosophical problems, and the so-called philosophical problems

Appears because philosophers can't see the use of language clearly and misunderstand the use of language, which makes the philosopher's understanding fall into confusion.
This is not so much a philosophical problem as a philosophical confusion.The emergence of philosophical problems is essentially a pathology, and it is the philosopher
Suffering from philosophical psychosis with confusion, mental spasms, and stupor.Philosophical therapy must be implemented to make them rational,
God recovers.How to cure the confusion of philosophy?Wittgenstein said that it is to keep philosophy from interfering with the actual use of language, so as to avoid

Instead of misunderstanding language forms, look honestly at how language is used in everyday life.The Specific of Therapeutic Philosophy
There is not one method, but many.But no matter which method is used, there is only one purpose, that is, when one wants to study

He should be stopped when he is doing philosophy, because philosophical questions should not be raised in the first place.It is evident that the author's therapeutic philosophy

The purpose of this is to bury philosophy itself, but in fact it is not to save philosophy.

Throughout the book we conclude that while Philosophical Investigations attempts to eliminate philosophical questions, he in fact presents his own
Philosophy: for those who think about philosophy to abandon painful, tormenting philosophizing and to observe the practical use of everyday language

,describe

Something everyone admits.

The Analytic Revolution in Philosophy

The influence of Philosophical Investigations written by Ludwig Wittgenstein in the field of western philosophy is quite remarkable.he inspired
The wisdom of the leaders of two currents in analytical philosophy: the school of logical analysis, which gave a great impetus to the philosophy of science

The other is the school of everyday language analysis, the early leaders of this school are the successors of Wittgenstein

.As such, he is often regarded as one of the founders of the analytic philosophy movement.he enjoys the honor that few philosophers can
, there are his special research associations in the world, and the exchanges on his philosophical thoughts are very active and frequent.many years after his death

Famous philosophers, such as Russell, Ryle, Weston, etc., have published articles to commemorate him.Some who agree with him regard him as

A mythical hero of the philosophical revolution, his opponents had to make his point too often.Therefore, some philosophers have commented

In a sense, Wittgenstein's "Philosophical Investigations" is one of the spiritual pillars of modern Western philosophy.

(End of this chapter)