Well worth reading

[Rosa Lichtenstein]

I have just received a new book on Wittgenstein's Tractatus (which is probobaly the least well-understood book in history):

"Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus" by R M White.

This author was a tutor of mine at University (so those familiar with my ideas will see where some of them came from); it is by far and away the best introduction to this mega-difficult book so far written.

Do not expect it to be easy-going, though. Wittgenstein is tackling problems that went right over the heads of some of the best minds in history. If you stick at it, and read it carefully, this book will explain the main ideas to you better than anything so far available, and you will come away from it with an inkling why Wittgenstein is regarded by many as a genius.

It will make you re-think things you thought you already knew, or which you imagined were quite straight-forward, which is a sign of good philosophy.

It will also introduce you to ideas that will change the way you think about the world and how we represent it to ourselves. That is a sign of great philosophy.

You will also get a feel for why Wittgenstein thought he had solved all the problems of Philosophy with this one book (largely written in his 20's!), and if you follow the development of his ideas, you will find out how, after he encounterd Marxist thinkers, he changed his mind, repaired the faults he then saw in first stab at things, and emerged with a fresh approach which I think did the trick. [Inded my work seeks to extend his own in this direction.]

Even if you disagree with this way of doing philosophy (i.e., with the endeavour to attain maximum clarity), but have a smattering of logic under your belt, you cannot fail to come away from this book with an brief insight into the power of modern analytic philosophy -- of which Wittgenstein was its most revolutionary exponent.

[Demogorgon]

Very interesting. I have yet to examine Wittgenstein in proper detail, so I will definitely have a look at reading this soon.

[Rosa Lichtenstein]

Demog, remember this style of Philosophy is unlike anything you will have met before, and it can be quite disconcerting, or it can make your brain hurt, at first.

It is not difficult in a way that, say, reading Kant, or Hegel, Sartre, or Heidegger are (there the difficulty is one of jargon); here the difficulty is that the ideas are so challenging and profound, it is not easy to get your head round them.

[Raúl Duke]

It is not difficult in a way that, say, reading Kant, or Hegel, Sartre, or Heidegger are (there the difficulty is one of jargon); here the difficulty is that the ideas are so challenging and profound, it is not easy to get your head round them.

I tried reading Albert Camus (friend of sartre, considered to be an existentialist, I think he calls himself an absurdist) Myth of Sysiphus and found it difficult to read. (I think it could be because it was repetative and use quite some jargon and or it was repetative in the way that it was repeating the same concept over and over. i.e. probably lacked substance) Maybe next time I should read the novels instead.

From the "Totality" thread

Incidentally, this is one of the things that hepled sink Wittgenstein's early attempt to use the 'totality' of facts to account for how language works in his Tractatus -- see my post on that new book that has just come out on this. Since his attempt was the best to date, and the best possible, I rather think that Dialectical Mystics will not get too far -- except by means of an appeal to faith, or tradition, which is all they will have left.

Is this the book (Tractatus and Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus) you are mention in the quoted post?

Is there a way I could read a part of this book for free so to think about getting it and reading the whole thing?

[Dooga Aetrus Blackrazor]

How are the ideas profound? Profound in the sense of metaphysics or profound in the sense of Hume's criticism of induction?

I haven't read his works so I am curious. I am a bit skeptical since wikipedia says he was influenced by:

Kant, Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer

I like nor agree with those three on much. His influences from the analytical school seem much more favorable.

[Rosa Lichtenstein]

Dooga:


How are the ideas profound? Profound in the sense of metaphysics or profound in the sense of Hume's criticism of induction?

Read it and find out (although I gave you a hint -- it wll change the way you see language and its relation to reality, even if you totally disagree with it).


I haven't read his works so I am curious. I am a bit skeptical since wikipedia says he was influenced by:

Kant, Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer

Schopenhauer when he was a teenager, but he grew out of it; Kierkegaard for the most superficial aspects of his later thought, and Kant probably not at all (or if there was any, it was filtered through the guy I mention below, and later through Brouwer).

The most important influences on Wittgenstein, as this book shows (hence my recommendation) was Frege and the early Bertrand Russell (ie., pre-1914), with some input from Hertz.

Anything else was minor in comparison.

[Rosa Lichtenstein]

JohnnyD:


Is there a way I could read a part of this book for free so to think about getting it and reading the whole thing?

I'd advise against doing that; you will find the Tractatus totally impenetrable -- that is why I recommended this other book.

There is a hypertext version on line, but I have lost the address. When I find it I will post it.

It's at:

http://www.kfs.org/~jonathan/witt

You will have to declare that this version is only for personal study.

But, remember, this is one of the most challenging philosophy books ever written, and cannot just be read -- it will make zero sense to you if you try.

Once more, that is why this new book is so useful.

[hoopla]

Hi Rosa. Is it a conventional interpretation?

[Rosa Lichtenstein]

Hoop:


Is it a conventional interpretation?

If you mean, does the book I am recommending give a conventional interpretation, I have to say that there is no such thing.

But, this book gets closer to Wittgenstein's intentions than anything I have see so far, and it presents a view at odds with the majority of previous commentaries.

If and when this author brings out his main work (which he has been working on for over 30 years) it is my view that it will revolutionise Wittgenstein studies, and thus in a small way, philosophy itself.

[Wittgenstein himself thought that it would take humanity 500 years to get his point (I am paraphrasing a remark he made to one of my own teachers, who was taught by him). Arrogant possibly; but I think accurate.]

[Bretty123]

On your recommendation I'm going to buy this book in paperback however on chapters.ca (yes i'm Canadian) it says it is not released yet.

[Rosa Lichtenstein]

Ok, but remember, anything on the Tractatus is not easy going, but this book is well worth the effort.

It explains this difficult book better than anything I have seen -- and it is 100% spot on.

You should be able get it from Amazon; I got mine for £7 (about $12US).

[Bretty123]

Amazon and Chapters both are not releasing until the 24th of december.

[Rosa Lichtenstein]

Ah, in the UK, it was issued at the end of October.