A Critical Essay on the Main Objective of Philosophical Investigations with Reference to Wittgenstein’s Quotation of Augustine’s Confessions

Abstract

Philosophical Investigations comes under the later philosophy of Wittgenstein. It is based on two major themes, which can be called as the philosophy of language and philosophical psychology. It can be also named as a grammatical investigation since he stated that philosophy is based on some misunderstandings of our language. This book is also hierarchically numbered remarks. Most of the remarks are composed as conversations between Wittgenstein and an interlocutor that consists with the reality and sometimes consists of imaginary examples. In Philosophical Investigations Wittgenstein, describe how language is used, notion of language games, the notion of family resemblance, philosophy as a therapy, ‘meaning in use’ etc. The important thing is Wittgenstein does not merely argue on what he believes to be the truth. Nevertheless, the reader is influenced to conclude certain conclusions. Saint Augustine composed a collection of thirteen books after he became a church father that is named as Augustine’s Confessions. Wittgenstein selected a quotation from Augustine’s confessions for the opening of Philosophical Investigations. It is imperative to check out the reason why Wittgenstein selected above mentioned quotation. Therefore, the objective of this study would be to examine why Wittgenstein selected a quotation from Augustine’s Confessions to the opening of Philosophical Investigations. Textual analysis, comparative, analytical and critical methods have been used in this study.