Wittgenstein on Logic and Philosophical Method

This Elements outlines Wittgenstein's philosophy of logic and its relevance to philosophical methodology.

Oskari Kuusela (Author)

9781108986649, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 23 June 2022

75 pages
22.8 x 15.1 x 0.5 cm, 0.13 kg

This Element outlines Wittgenstein's early and later philosophies of logic, and explains Wittgenstein's views regarding the methodological significance of logic for philosophy. Wittgenstein's early philosophy of logic is presented as a further development of Frege's and Russell's accounts of logic, and Wittgenstein later philosophy as a response to problems with his early views, including confusions about idealization and abstraction in logic. The later Wittgenstein's novel logical methods, such as the method of language-games, are outlined, and the new kind of logical naturalism developed in his later philosophy described. I conclude by discussing the later Wittgenstein on names.

Introduction
1. Early Wittgenstein's reconfiguration of Frege's and Russell's logic
2. Later Wittgenstein's rethinking of the Tractatus' philosophy of logic
3. Later Wittgenstein's new logical methods
4. Doing justice to the complexities of language: Wittgenstein on names
References.

Subject Areas: Philosophy [HP]