Wittgwnsteino Mėlynasis sąsiuvinis : pakeliui į filosofinius tyrinėjimus

Abstract

"The Blue Book" does not belong to the greatest masterpieces of Wittgenstein. Its impact is not compared to that of the "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus" or "Philosophical Investigations". Nevertheless, it is still a masterpiece of thought. Dictated to several pupils of Wittgenstein, it was not intended to be a work for philosophical connoisseurs. It was not even intended to be a separate book. And, we may say, it is not. It marks Wittgenstein's new way of thinking from the old way of thinking. The central question of "The Blue Book" is "What is the meaning of a word?". We therefore take a closer look at the ideas that preceded it, namely, the "Tractatus" view of meaning. The "Tractatus" claims that the meaning of a word is the object it stands for. The notion of Erläuterung or elucidation plays the central role in explaining the meaning of a word. We interpret the concepts of Erläuterung and eluci- dation as "making lucid" or "purifying" the meaning of a word. Our conclusion is that the notion of object is too obscure to provide a satisfying answer to the question "What is the meaning of a word?". In "The Blue Book" Wittgenstein tries out new strategies answering that question, and a new set of concepts comes into play. First of all, Wittgenstein "removes the idea that words of the ostensive definition predicate something of the defined". Secondly, Wittgenstein fights against a mentalistic view of language, according to which the meaning of a word is some image in the head of the speaker. Wittgenstein's own answer to the central question is that the meaning of a word is its use. Hence the new conception of thinking as "operating with signs". In order to get a clear view of this activity, Wittgenstein proposes to investigate "primitive ways of speaking", thus introducing his famous notion of "language-games". The aim of "language-games" is to provide a non-reductionist simplicity of coping with linguistic phenomena. Wittgenstein criticizes scientific methodology for its reductionist simplification of natural phenome- na. Investigating the phenomenon of pain, Wittgenstein concludes that in the "games" in the expression "I have pain", "I" does not denote a particular body. It is the expression of pain itself. This is how Wittgenstein paves the way to his "Philosophical Investigations", leaving behind the conception of "meaning as object" of the "Tractatus".