Wittgenstein and Phenomenology

In this paper 1 , I give a clarification and interpretation of Wittgenstein’s use of ‘phenomenology’ and of his ‘phenomenological period’. During his phenomenological period (1929–1930), Wittgenstein used the term ‘phenomenology’ in a positive sense for his own work. He later rejected the term, however, by giving ‘phenomenology’ a second, negative sense. Some interpreters suggest that Wittgenstein’s ideas about phenomenology ‘went underground’ as a synonym for grammar. 2 I investigate this connection between grammar and phenomenology, and sketch the historical context of Wittgenstein’s conception of phenomenology by comparing it with Mach’s earlier and Husserl’s contemporaneous use of the term.