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Wittgenstein Recommendations for Me

Wittgenstein Recommendations for Me

ManiacJack
aka W

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Location: San Mucus, TX
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Posted 08/03/08 - 10:34 PM: Subject: Wittgenstein Recomenadations for Me	#1
So I just bought Culture and Value, which is credited to Wittgenstein, but isn't an actual book he wrote, but abstracts from his personal writings assorted by some translator. I kinda have this problem with other people trying to tell me what is best of some guy's work... Sadly, that's why I'm here. What did he write? Recommendations of his other works would be appreciated too.
Future Tense Passed Relief the Escapist wrote: Bullshit, self-deception, self-aggrandizement. Explains everything, really...

springmo

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Posted 08/04/08 - 02:11 AM:	#2
The only book Wittgenstein published in his lifetime was the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. It is a difficult book that many people didn't understand or agree with when it was published. In it Wittgenstein thought he had "solved all the problems of philosophy" but later admitted the book was gravely mistaken. He did not publish his works that came after, which represent a sharp turn away from the kind of thinking in the Tractatus, possibly because he was so shell-shocked from publishing a book that made bold claims which he later abandoned. However, several of his later writings do represent complete works even if they didn't meet his perfectionist standards required for publication. The Blue and Brown Books are extended notes he gave to his students which were later circulated to the general public and I think they hold together quite nicely. His brief Lecture on Ethics, which he never actually gave, is worth finding also. After that comes the Philosophical Investigations, Wittgenstein's second magnum opus which he actually saw to completion. He almost published the first half, as it comes down to us, in his lifetime and would be a good place to start with Wittgenstein. He then wrote Remarks on Color as a response to Goethe's theory of colors, which is a rather polished piece of writing although arguably one of his less interesting works. I would recommend reading the last thing he wrote, published posthumously as On Certainty. It is a collection of his notes that most resembles a complete book. It is written as a response to G.E. Moore's essay called Proof of an External World and I think it shows Wittgenstein at his sharpest, even though the last few remarks were written only days before his death. Edited by springmo on 08/04/08 - 02:37 AM

Deftil
Student

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Posted 08/04/08 - 03:11 AM:	#3
If you want to take a look at an etext of The Tractatus go here: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext04/tloph10.txt Here's a wiki link to checkout his Important publications,Later work, and Works available online: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Wittgenstein#Works

springmo

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Posted 08/05/08 - 01:31 AM:	#4
I'd also like to point out that despite what I said about the Tractatus, the book really is a work of art. While difficult to understand, it flows beautifully and comes to some devastating conclusions. I think that his later philosophy did a better job solving the same philosophical problems the Tractatus was concerned with but purely aesthetically the Tractatus is a book you have to appreciate.

SixShotsByMoonlight
Aspirant

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Posted 08/12/08 - 07:12 PM:	#5
Tractatus Logico Philosophicus Published Post Humously: Philosophical Investigations Blue and Brown Book Lectures (Notes from students) Edited by SixShotsByMoonlight on 08/12/08 - 07:18 PM

springmo

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Posted 08/16/08 - 09:22 AM:	#6
Oh and I forgot to mention, I think Lecture on Ethics has the rare distinction of having been published in Wittgenstein's lifetime.

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