Wittgenstein’s Philosophy: Language, Logic, and Meaning
Initially, Wittgenstein believed language could perfectly represent thought. He thought language reached a limit, expressing all that was meaningful. Beyond that limit, language lost meaning and expressed nothing. He believed thought made language possible (Analytical Philosophy). Later, Wittgenstein criticized this initial position.
He questioned how we know the world has a logical structure that language expresses, and how language itself has that logical structure. Is using language to demonstrate this a contradiction? Wittgenstein then developed the idea of language games. Each language is like a game with its own rules. To use it correctly, one must know, respect, and follow those rules. There are many different language games, such as describing an object or event, telling a story, or telling a joke.
For Wittgenstein, language is the set of rules we use to understand the world. Speakers use different rules, and understanding a situation requires knowing which rules are being used. The linguistic turn involves questioning the analysis of language and its relationship to knowledge. This developed in three phases:
- Logical Atomism: This approach adopted the logical and ideal model of scientific language, with Bertrand Russell as its main representative.
- Logical Positivism: This movement developed the logical analysis of language and its implementation, originating from the Vienna Circle.
- Analytic Philosophy: This branch views the role of philosophy as clarifying language, analyzing its various uses. L. Wittgenstein is a prominent representative.
Language and Reality
Conventional Human Language: Words do not naturally arise from things. Even onomatopoeic words have a constructed relationship with reality.
- Human language is symbolic and uses signs that represent signified things.
- Language is, to some extent, subjective. Words express realities through accepted conventions, but they are spoken by someone. They are not independent but depend on how the speaker understands the reality being presented.
Thought and Language
There are three positions regarding the relationship between thought and language:
- Thought is based on and dependent on language: This position was advocated by Edward Sapir, Benjamin Whorf, and Basil Bernstein.
- Thought is language: This posture was proposed by Marx Müller and defended by Ludwig Wittgenstein. Language is a system of signs that do not necessarily need to be spoken or written.
- Language is based on and dependent on thought: This position was defended by Jean Piaget and Ludwig Wittgenstein. Thinking is an innate faculty that can be developed and refined.
Semiotics
Semiotics is the science that studies the relationship of signs to a code. Semiotics can be divided into syntax, semantics, and pragmatics.
- Syntax examines the proper relationship that signs must observe with each other, regardless of meaning.
- Semantics examines the relationship of signs to the reality they relate to, i.e., their meaning.
- Pragmatics handles the context.