Wittgenstein on Internal and External Relations : Tracing All the Connections

Abstract

The present book has the following structure: it proceeds chronologically in its main outline. Part II summarizes the philosophical background against which the distinction between internal and external relations emerged. Hegel and Bradley are addressed in Chapter 4. Russell and Moore—Wittgenstein's direct teachers—are the subject of Chapter 5. Part III is devoted to Wittgenstein's early writings. Chapter 6 distills the definition of the notions of internal and external relations from these texts. The subsequent chapters deal with the doctrine of external relations, the nature of simple objects and the picture theory. Part IV deals with Wittgenstein's later writings from 1929 up to his death in 1951. Its structure is similar to the previous part. Chapter 10 provides some definitions of internal and external relations in these texts. The following chapters explore various themes from Wittgenstein's later philosophy in which the distinction between internal and external relations is important. Part IV begins with a discussion of intentionality and continues with rule-following, mathematics, colors, the standard meter, aspect-seeing, aesthetics and art. The concluding Part V gives the rationale for Wittgenstein’s method of analysis based on the distinction between internal and external relations. Internal relations do not—in the final analysis—belong to things; they are not constitutive of things. They are the means of representation of things. Internal relations can be—in an unattainable ideal—simply left behind.