Lebensformen: Living Logic
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Juliet Floyd
Abstract
Wittgenstein’s explicitly interlocutory style of philosophizing and writing, along with his use of the notion of Lebensform, first appeared in 1936-1937. Here we give an account of why. Lebensform plays an important elucidatory role in Wittgenstein’s later conception of philosophy, and is distinguished from the notion of Lebenswelt familiar in phenomenology. In utilizing the notion of “form”, rather than “world”, Wittgenstein indicates his preoccupation with the question, “What is the nature of the logical?” It is argued that the analysis of logic contained in Turing’s “On computable numbers, with an application to the Entscheidungsproblem” (1936/7) stimulated Wittgenstein’s writing of Philosophical Investigations, leading him to deepen the notion of a “languagegame”, to eliminate the idea of Kultur as foundational, and to focus on the general idea of rule-following. Turing’s paper, in turn, was indebted to Wittgenstein’s conception of philosophical method, especially the idea of comparing ordinary human calculative behavior with words to the mechanical workings of a calculus. Wittgenstein’s mature philosophical method, expressed in the Investigation’s multilogue shifts in voice, is, we argue, both logically and philosophically necessitated. And his conception of Lebensformen makes an important and novel intervention in philosophy that is relevant for our times.
Abstract
Wittgenstein’s explicitly interlocutory style of philosophizing and writing, along with his use of the notion of Lebensform, first appeared in 1936-1937. Here we give an account of why. Lebensform plays an important elucidatory role in Wittgenstein’s later conception of philosophy, and is distinguished from the notion of Lebenswelt familiar in phenomenology. In utilizing the notion of “form”, rather than “world”, Wittgenstein indicates his preoccupation with the question, “What is the nature of the logical?” It is argued that the analysis of logic contained in Turing’s “On computable numbers, with an application to the Entscheidungsproblem” (1936/7) stimulated Wittgenstein’s writing of Philosophical Investigations, leading him to deepen the notion of a “languagegame”, to eliminate the idea of Kultur as foundational, and to focus on the general idea of rule-following. Turing’s paper, in turn, was indebted to Wittgenstein’s conception of philosophical method, especially the idea of comparing ordinary human calculative behavior with words to the mechanical workings of a calculus. Wittgenstein’s mature philosophical method, expressed in the Investigation’s multilogue shifts in voice, is, we argue, both logically and philosophically necessitated. And his conception of Lebensformen makes an important and novel intervention in philosophy that is relevant for our times.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Table of Contents V
- List of Abbreviations VII
- Introduction: The Form of Our Life with Language 1
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Paths to Form(s) of Life
- The Rule of the Game (The Moment of Truth) 11
- Lebensformen: Living Logic 59
- Human Life and Self-consciousness. The Idea of ‘Our’ Form of Life in Hegel and Wittgenstein 93
- Duality, Force, Language-games and Our Form of Life 113
-
Form(s) of Life: the Very Idea
- Our Life with Truth 155
- Language-games, Lebensform, and the Ancient City 173
- Language-games and Forms of Life in Mathematics 193
- The Representation of Language 219
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Form(s) of Life after Wittgenstein
- Wittgenstein and the Difficulty of What Normally Goes Without Saying 253
- Wittgenstein. Ordinary Language as Lifeform 277
- Hostage to a Stranger 305
- Biographical Notes 331
- Index 333
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Table of Contents V
- List of Abbreviations VII
- Introduction: The Form of Our Life with Language 1
-
Paths to Form(s) of Life
- The Rule of the Game (The Moment of Truth) 11
- Lebensformen: Living Logic 59
- Human Life and Self-consciousness. The Idea of ‘Our’ Form of Life in Hegel and Wittgenstein 93
- Duality, Force, Language-games and Our Form of Life 113
-
Form(s) of Life: the Very Idea
- Our Life with Truth 155
- Language-games, Lebensform, and the Ancient City 173
- Language-games and Forms of Life in Mathematics 193
- The Representation of Language 219
-
Form(s) of Life after Wittgenstein
- Wittgenstein and the Difficulty of What Normally Goes Without Saying 253
- Wittgenstein. Ordinary Language as Lifeform 277
- Hostage to a Stranger 305
- Biographical Notes 331
- Index 333
