Premium
Instructions for Climbing the Ladder (The Minimalism of Wittgenstein's Tractatus )
Author(s) -
Engelmann Mauro Luiz
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
philosophical investigations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.172
H-Index - 14
eISSN - 1467-9205
pISSN - 0190-0536
DOI - 10.1111/phin.12211
Subject(s) - minimalism (technical communication) , philosophy , reading (process) , a priori and a posteriori , epistemology , schematic , quine , linguistics , computer science , electronic engineering , engineering , human–computer interaction
I aim to present a solution to the apparent paradox of the Tractatus by means of a minimalist reading grounded in the idea that the correct logical symbolism alone “finally solves” in essentials the philosophical problems. I argue that although the sentences of the Tractatus are nonsensical, rules presented in its symbolism are not. The symbolism itself expresses only a priori rules of logic through schematic variables that do not say anything. I argue that this reading correctly expresses the ladder structure of the book, and that it can account for Wittgenstein's critique of the Tractatus in Some Remarks on Logical Form .