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Ludwig Wittgenstein

Ludwig Wittgenstein Quotes

Philosopher

Ludwig Wittgenstein was one of the most important philosophers of the 20th century, renowned for his profound contributions to language, logic, and philosophical methods. His ideas have had a significant impact on the development of analytic philosophy and philosophy of language.

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Famous Ludwig Wittgenstein Quotes

“Don't look for the meanings; look for the use.”

Looks Use Using Me

Author:Ludwig Wittgenstein

“We just do not see how very specialized the use of "I know" is.”

Knows Use Knowledge

Book:On Certainty

Source: On Certainty

“If you use a trick in logic, whom can you be tricking other than yourself?”

Ifs Use Logic Tricks

Author:Ludwig Wittgenstein

“Freud's fanciful pseudo-explanations (precisely because they are brilliant) perform a disservice. Now any ass has these pictures available to use in "explaining" symptoms of an illness.”

Use Illness Available Brilliant Ass Explanation Symptoms Explaining Pseudo Disservice

Author:Ludwig Wittgenstein

“Philosophy may in no way interfere with the actual use of language; it can in the end only describe it.”

Way May Ends Philosophy Use Language Interfere Use Of Language

Book:Philosophical Investigations

Source: Philosophical Investigations

“What we do is to bring words back from their metaphysical to their everyday use.”

Use Everyday Metaphysical Everyday Use

Book:Philosophical Investigations

Source: Philosophical Investigations

“For remember that in general we don't use language according to strict rules-- it hasn't been taught to us by means of strict rules, either. We, in our discussions on the other hand, constantly compare language with a calculus preceding to exact rules.”

Mean Use Hands Remember Language Taught Compare Discussion Strict Calculus Strict Rules

Book:A companion to Wittgenstein's

Source: A companion to Wittgenstein's

“Every sign by itself seems dead. What gives it life?--In use it is alive. Is life breathed into it there?--Or is the use its life?”

Life Giving Use Seems Language Alive Breathe

Book:Philosophical Investigations

Source: Philosophical Investigations

“When philosophers use a word--"knowledge," "being," "object," "I," "proposition," "name"--and try to grasp the essence of the thing, one must always ask oneself: is the word ever actually used in this way in the language-game which is its original home?--What we do is to bring words back from their metaphysical to their everyday use.”

Way Trying Use Home Used Asks Games Names Language Objects Essence Originals Everyday Oneself Philosopher Metaphysics Propositions Metaphysical Everyday Use

Book:Philosophical Investigations

Source: Philosophical Investigations

“Philosophy, as we use the word, is a fight against the fascination which forms of expression exert upon us.”

Philosophy Use Form Fighting Expression Fascination

Book:Preliminary Studies for the

Source: Preliminary Studies for the

“Think of words as instruments characterized by their use, and then think of the use of a hammer, the use of a chisel, the use of a square, of a glue pot, and of the glue.”

Thinking Use Instruments Pot Squares Hammers Glue Chisels

Author:Ludwig Wittgenstein

“Talent is a spring from which fresh water always flows.- But this spring is worthless if no good use is made of it.”

Ifs Made Use Water Talent Spring Flow Worthless Fresh Water

Author:Ludwig Wittgenstein

“One of the most misleading representational techniques in our language is the use of the word 'I.'”

Use Language Technique Mislead

Author:Ludwig Wittgenstein

“'Imagine a person whose memory could not retain what the word 'pain' meant-so that he constantly called different things by that name-but nevertheless used the word in a way fitting in with the usual symptoms and presuppositions of pain'-in short he uses it as we all do. Here I should like to say: a wheel that can be turned though nothing else moves with it, is not part of the mechanism.”

Way Should Mind Persons Different Use Pain Moving Used Names Memories Knowledge Imagine Wheels Different Things Usual Mechanism Nevertheless Symptoms Fitting

Author:Ludwig Wittgenstein

“One cannot guess how a word functions. One has to look at its use and learn from that. But the difficulty is to remove the prejudice which stands in the way of doing this. It is not a stupid prejudice.”

Way Looks Use Learning Stupid Function Difficulty Prejudice Stupidity Remove Literacy

Book:Philosophical Investigations

Source: Philosophical Investigations

“Mathematics is a logical method. . . . Mathematical propositions express no thoughts. In life it is never a mathematical proposition which we need, but we use mathematical propositions only in order to infer from propositions which do not belong to mathematics to others which equally do not belong to mathematics.”

Life Needs Use Order Mathematics Method Math Mathematical Logical Propositions

Book:Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

Source: Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

“For a large class of cases - though not for all - in which we employ the word meaning it can be explained thus: the meaning of a word is its use in the language.”

Use Language Class Cases Defined

Author:Ludwig Wittgenstein

About the Author

Born: April 26, 1889
Died: April 29, 1951
Known for: Philosopher
Quotes: 391

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Philosophy Ifs Language Philosophical World Thinking Logic Doe Way Knows Mean Use Philosopher Propositions Form Men Problem Should Facts Believe

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Books & Sources

Tractatus Logico-PhilosophicusRelated source material

Philosophical InvestigationsRelated source material

Notebooks, 1914-1916Related source material

On CertaintyRelated source material

Philosophical Occasions, 1912-1951Related source material

A companion to Wittgenstein'sRelated source material

Tractatus Logico PhilosophicusRelated source material

Culture and ValueRelated source material

The Tractatus According to Its Own FormRelated source material

Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus: German and EnglishRelated source material

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