Review of 'Philosophical investigations' on 'Storygraph'
5 stars
Just finished my periodic re-read. This is a book for academics but not written in academic style, it is written as a collection of related remarks.
It revolutionized English 20th century philosophy and most linguistic philosophy is very heavily influenced by it.
It is primarily for philosophers but I think neuroscientists would get some good ideas out of it, in spite of the fact that Wittgenstein says 'above all, don't wonder "What can be going on in the eyes or brain"'. That remark is because most of his points have a direct analog in neuroscience. My suspicion is that eventually his points will disappear because language will shift subtly so that the use Wittgenstein makes of his questions and comments will make less sense. At the time he wrote it, there was no way even to interpret them as scientific.
Each time I re-read it a few years apart, I …
Just finished my periodic re-read. This is a book for academics but not written in academic style, it is written as a collection of related remarks.
It revolutionized English 20th century philosophy and most linguistic philosophy is very heavily influenced by it.
It is primarily for philosophers but I think neuroscientists would get some good ideas out of it, in spite of the fact that Wittgenstein says 'above all, don't wonder "What can be going on in the eyes or brain"'. That remark is because most of his points have a direct analog in neuroscience. My suspicion is that eventually his points will disappear because language will shift subtly so that the use Wittgenstein makes of his questions and comments will make less sense. At the time he wrote it, there was no way even to interpret them as scientific.
Each time I re-read it a few years apart, I find a different set of remarks useful - some of those from earlier readings seem trivial, others I think are important, but it still manages to make me rethink ideas I thought I had settled.
