Wittgenstein LudwigLectures On Philosophy.docx

Wittgenstein LudwigLectures On Philosophy.docx

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WittgensteinLudwigLecturesOnPhilosophy

LudwigWittgenstein（1932-33）

LecturesonPhilosophy

Source:

Wittgenstein'sLectures,1932-35,EditedbyAliceAmbrose,publ.Blackwell,1979.The1932-33Lecturenotes,pp2-40reproducedhere.

[DuetothelimitationsofHTML,Ihaveusedthefollowingcharacterstorepresentsymbolsofmathematicallogic:

»for"isasupersetof",«for"isasubsetof",~for"not",Œfor"thereis",vfor"or",.for"and"]

1Iamgoingtoexcludefromourdiscussionquestionswhichareansweredbyexperience.Philosophicalproblemsarenotsolvedbyexperience,forwhatwetalkaboutinphilosophyarenotfactsbutthingsforwhichfactsareuseful.Philosophicaltroublearisesthroughseeingasystemofrulesandseeingthatthingsdonotfitit.Itislikeadvancingandretreatingfromatreestumpandseeingdifferentthings.Wegonearer,remembertherules,andfeelsatisfied,thenretreatandfeeldissatisfied.

2Wordsandchesspiecesareanalogous;knowinghowtouseawordislikeknowinghowtomoveachesspiece.Nowhowdotherulesenterintoplayingthegame?

Whatisthedifferencebetweenplayingthegameandaimlesslymovingthepieces?

Idonotdenythereisadifference,butIwanttosaythatknowinghowapieceistobeusedisnotaparticularstateofmindwhichgoesonwhilethegamegoeson.Themeaningofawordistobedefinedbytherulesforitsuse,notbythefeelingthatattachestothewords.

"Howisthewordused?

"and"Whatisthegrammaroftheword?

"Ishalltakeasbeingthesamequestion.

Thephrase,"beareroftheword",standingforwhatonepointstoingivinganostensivedefinition,and"meaningoftheword"haveentirelydifferentgrammars;thetwoarenotsynonymous.Toexplainawordsuchas"red"bypointingtosomethinggivesbutoneruleforitsuse,andincaseswhereonecannotpoint,rulesofadifferentsortaregiven.Alltherulestogethergivethemeaning,andthesearenotfixedbygivinganostensivedefinition.Therulesofgrammarareentirelyindependentofoneanother.Twowordshavethesamemeaningiftheyhavethesamerulesfortheiruse.

Aretherules,forexample,~~p=pfornegation,responsibletothemeaningofaword?

No.Therulesconstitutethemeaning,andarenotresponsibletoit.Themeaningchangeswhenoneofitsruleschanges.If,forexample,thegameofchessisdefinedintermsofitsrules,onecannotsaythegamechangesifaruleformovingapiecewerechanged.Onlywhenwearespeakingofthehistoryofthegamecanwetalkofchange.Rulesarearbitraryinthesensethattheyarenotresponsibletosomesortofreality-theyarenotsimilartonaturallaws;noraretheyresponsibletosomemeaningthewordalreadyhas.Ifsomeonesaystherulesofnegationarenotarbitrarybecausenegationcouldnotbesuchthat~~p=~p,allthatcouldbemeantisthatthelatterrulewouldnotcorrespondtotheEnglishword"negation".Theobjectionthattherulesarenotarbitrarycomesfromthefeelingthattheyareresponsibletothemeaning.Buthowisthemeaningof"negation"defined,ifnotbytherules?

~~p=pdoesnotfollowfromthemeaningof"not"butconstitutesit.Similarly,p.p»q.».qdoesnotdependonthemeaningsof"and"and"implies";itconstitutestheirmeaning.Ifitissaidthattherulesofnegationarenotarbitraryinasmuchastheymustnotcontradicteachother,thereplyisthatiftherewereacontradictionamongthemweshouldsimplynolongercallcertainofthemrules."Itispartofthegrammaroftheword'rule'thatif'p'isarule,'p.~p'isnotarule."

3Logicproceedsfrompremisesjustasphysicsdoes.Buttheprimitivepropositionsofphysicsareresultsofverygeneralexperience,whilethoseoflogicarenot.Todistinguishbetweenthepropositionsofphysicsandthoseoflogic,moremustbedonethantoproducepredicatessuchasexperientialandself-evident.Itmustbeshownthatagrammaticalruleholdsforoneandnotfortheother.

4Inwhatsensearelawsofinferencelawsofthought?

Canareasonbegivenforthinkingaswedo?

Willthisrequireanansweroutsidethegameofreasoning?

Therearetwosensesof"reason":

reasonfor,andcause.Thesearetwodifferentordersofthings.Oneneedstodecideonacriterionforsomething'sbeingareasonbeforereasonandcausecanbedistinguished.Reasoningisthecalculationactuallydone,andareasongoesbackonestepinthecalculus.Areasonisareasononlyinsidethegame.Togiveareasonistogothroughaprocessofcalculation,andtoaskforareasonistoaskhowonearrivedattheresult.Thechainofreasonscomestoanend,thatis,onecannotalwaysgiveareasonforareason.Butthisdoesnotmakethereasoninglessvalid.Theanswertothequestion,Whyareyoufrightened?

involvesahypothesisifacauseisgiven.Butthereisnohypotheticalelementinacalculation.

Todoathingforacertainreasonmaymeanseveralthings.Whenapersongivesashisreasonforenteringaroomthatthereisalecture,howdoesoneknowthatishisreason?

Thereasonmaybenothingmorethanjusttheonehegiveswhenasked.Again,areasonmaybethewayonearrivesataconclusion,e.g.,whenonemultiplies13x25.Itisacalculation,andisthejustificationfortheresult325.Thereasonforfixingadatemightconsistinaman'sgoingthroughagameofcheckinghisdiaryandfindingafreetime.Thereasonheremightbesaidtobeincludedintheactheperforms.Acausecouldnotbeincludedinthissense.

Wearetalkinghereofthegrammarofthewords"reason"and"cause":

inwhatcasesdowesaywehavegivenareasonfordoingacertainthing,andinwhatcases,acause?

Ifoneanswersthequestion"Whydidyoumoveyourarm?

"bygivingabehaviouristicexplanation,onehasspecifiedacause.Causesmaybediscoveredbyexperiments,butexperimentsdonotproducereasons.Theword"reason"isnotusedinconnectionwithexperimentation.Itissenselesstosayareasonisfoundbyexperiment.Thealternative,"mathematicalargumentorexperientialevidence?

"correspondsto"reasonorcause?

"

5Wheretheclassdefinedbyfcanbegivenbyanenumeration,i.e.,byalist,（x）fxissimplyalogicalproductand（Œx）fxalogicalsum.E.g.,（x）fx.=.fa.fb.fc,and（Œx）fx.=.favfbvfc.Examplesaretheclassofprimarycoloursandtheclassoftonesoftheoctave.Insuchcasesitisnotnecessarytoadd"anda,b,c,...aretheonlyf's"Thestatement,"InthispictureIseealltheprimarycolours",means"Iseeredandgreenandblue...",andtoadd"andthesearealltheprimarycolours"saysneithermorenorlessthan"Iseeall...";whereastoaddto"a,b,carepeopleintheroom"thata,b,careallthepeopleintheroomsaysmorethan"（x）xisapersonintheroom",andtoomititistosayless.Ifitiscorrecttosaythegeneralpropositionisashorthandforalogicalproductorsum,asitisinsomecases,thentheclassofthingsnamedintheproductorsumisdefinedinthegrammar,notbyproperties.Forexample,beingatoneoftheoctaveisnotaqualityofanote.Thetonesofanoctavearealist.Weretheworldcomposedof"individuals"whichweregiventhenames"a","b","c",etc.,then,asinthecaseofthetones,therewouldbenoproposition"andthesearealltheindividuals".

Whereageneralpropositionisashorthandforaproduct,deductionofthespecialpropositionfafrom（x）fxisstraightforward.Butwhereitisnot,howdoesfafollow?

"Following"isofaspecialsort,justasthelogicalproductisofaspecialsort.Andalthough（Œx）fx.fa.=.faisanalogoustopvq.p.=.p,fa"follows"inadifferentwayinthetwocaseswhere（Œx）fxisashorthandforalogicalsumandwhereitisnot.Wehaveadifferentcalculuswhere（Œx）fxisnotalogicalsumfaisnotdeducedaspisdeducedinthecalculusofT'sandF'sfrompvq.p.Ioncemadeacalculusinwhichfollowingwasthesameinallcases.Butthiswasamistake.

Notethatthedotsinthedisjunctionsvfbvfcv...havedifferentgrammars:

（1）"andsoon"indicateslazinesswhenthedisjunctionisashorthandforalogicalsum,theclassinvolvedbeinggivenbyanenumeration,

（2）"andsoon"isanentirelydifferentsignwithnewruleswhenitdoesnotcorrespondtoanyenumeration,e.g.,"2isevenv4isevenv6iseven...",（3）"andsoon"referstopositionsinvisualspace,ascontrastedwithpositionscorrelatedwiththenumbersofthemathematicalcontinuum.Asanexampleof（3）consider"Thereisacircleinthesquare".Hereitmightappearthatwehavealogicalsumwhosetermscouldbedeterminedbyobservation,thatthereisanumberofpositionsacirclecouldoccupyinvisualspace,andthattheirnumbercouldbedeterminedbyanexperiment,say,bycoordinatingthemwithturnsofamicrometer.Butthereisnonumberofpositionsinvisualspace,anymorethanthereisanumberofdropsofrainwhichyousee.Theproperanswertothequestion,"Howmanydropsdidyousee?

",ismany,notthattherewasanumberbutyoudon'tknowhowmany.Althoughtherearetwentycirclesinthesquare,andthemicrometerwouldgivethenumberofpositionscoordinatedwiththem,visuallyyoumaynotseetwenty.

6Ihavepointedouttwokindsofcases（I）thoselike"Inthismelodythecomposerusedallthenotesoftheoctave",allthenotesbeingenumerable,

（2）thoselike"Allcirclesinthesquarehavecrosses".Russell'snotationassumesthatforeverygeneralpropositiontherearenameswhichcanbegiveninanswertothequestion"Whichones?

"（incontrastto,"Whatsort?

"）.Consider（Œx）fx,thenotationfor"Therearemenontheisland"andfor"Thereisacircleinthesquare".

Nowinthecaseofhumanbeings,whereweusenames,thequestion"Which