Wittgenstein's Tractatus: A Dialectical Interpretation

by Matthew B. Ostrow

Overview

"The philosopher strives to find the liberating word, that is, the word that finally permits us to grasp what up until now has intangibly weighed down our consciousness." Would Wittgenstein have been willing to describe the Tractatus as an attempt to find "the liberating word"? This is the basic contention of this strikingly innovative new study of the Tractatus. Matthew Ostrow argues that, far from seeking to offer a new theory in logic in the tradition of Frege and Russell, Wittgenstein viewed all such endeavors as the ensnarement of thought.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521006491
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/17/2001
Pages:	188
Product dimensions:	6.02(w) x 8.98(h) x 0.55(d)
Lexile:	1460L (what's this?)

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. Pictures and logical atomism; 2. What is analysis?; 3. The essence of the proposition; 4. The liberating word.

Editorial Reviews

"... an original, detailed and highly compelling interpretation of Wittgenstein's philosophical aims and central concerns. Ostrow shares Diamond's and Conant's sense of dissatisfaction with the traditional readings of the work, but the interpretation he offers is significantly different from theirs and represents the first book-length attempt to develop an alternative approach in a systematic way which engages fully the details of Wittgenstein's text." Marie McGinn, University of York

"In this increasingly polarized field of Wittgenstein studies, the book's contention of the dialectical and therapeutic nature of the propositions in the Tractatus will delight some who will feel they have found a strong new speaker." Journal of the History of Philosophy

From the Publisher

As part of his concern about the nature of philosophy itself, Ostrow (Boston U.) looks not at the few specific references Wittgenstein makes to it in the , but the weight of the work as a whole. He argues that the German philosopher does not understand the question of philosophy's nature to be some meta-issue, but one that pervades what one would ordinarily think of as the content of the discipline. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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