Moving the Masses
According to Ludwig Wittgenstein, language becomes clear and not a means of propaganda to move the masses. However, he also tried to restore the essence of language. He describes a theory called language games in his work Philosophical Investigations decidedly. The clarity he meant became the truth of an event. However, it plays a role in a definite form and becomes the phrase truth or event from the clarification.
In general, humans use language as a means of self-communication and expression. Apart from being communication in expressing something to others in a society, it also allows humans to get to know each other. Even though the language is often a means of propaganda to move the masses, language will lose its essence and meaning. On the 26th of 1889, Wittgenstein was born in Vienna, Austria.
He comes from a multicultural family. Karl, his father, is an engineer. He was also the leader of a large steel industry at the time. His paternal grandfather was a Jewish wool trader who had converted to Protestant Christianity. He married the daughter of a bank chief from Viennese. On the other hand, his father is very talented at playing music.
Wittgenstein’s Biography
Their residence became a musical center in Vienna, establishing Wittgenstein’s penchant for music because of the ambiance. In Wittgenstein’s mind, language games play a role as a tool in clarifying various forms of expressions and events. We can say that articulation is accurate if we make it clear properly. However, the meaning of clarification itself is a return and clarification of something to its circumstances.
In 1906, Wittgenstein began studying at a Technical College in Berlin. He continued his studies at the University of Manchester in 1908. At the university, Wittgenstein conducted research in the field of aircraft, especially aircraft propellers. However, he had to study pressing problems of philosophy and mathematics to work the propeller and required a great deal of knowledge of mathematics.
His meeting with Bertrand Russell made him more like mathematics. Therefore, he decided to study it more deeply. He spent many years at the university; in 1912, he studied at the University of Cambridge. At the university, he studied philosophy under Russell. After returning to his homeland and joining the Austrian army as a volunteer when WWI broke out, he served in various places. At the time, he wrote notes which he completed in August 1918.
Tractatus
In the same year, the Italian army takes him as a prisoner of war. He sent his copy of the manuscript to Russell while still in Italy. In 1921, the book appeared in Germany. Russell also published the book in English together with the preface in 1922. Wittgenstein wrote a popular book called Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus in the first period. In the book, Russel’s and G. E. Moore’s concept of logic influences Wittgenstein’s thinking; the idea is the logic of atomism.
The idea has a common thread with the book’s concept, a philosophical work Wittgenstein has compiled and formulated densely based on various propositions directly. Despite not being theoretical work, the book is not a long piece of writing. However, the book and its influence have an enormous scope on philosophy, especially in analytic philosophy. In the introduction to the Tractatus, the philosophers do not understand Wittgenstein’s problems regarding such questions about the language of logic.
He says that the early philosophers’ misunderstanding of the language of logic struck a tract. Therefore, Wittgenstein tried to clear up the misinterpretation that his predecessors did. According to him, the clarification does not seek to assume or judge their thinking as wrong.
Philosophical Language
Preferably, it is more about how they express their philosophical thoughts. As works of philosophy, in general, are born, there are problems that we want to answer. The same thing happened when Wittgenstein’s concern for the various kinds of philosophical language that developed at the time led to his work. According to him, general readers find it difficult to understand and too dreamy because early philosophers utilize philosophical language.
In discussing issues, readers do not understand them. Ultimately, it does not provide an answer to the problem. The suitability between the structure of reality and language determines the effort Wittgenstein makes to make an expression clear. We are more familiar with the view as a picture theory of language or often as a theory of meaning. The hypothesis reveals that language describes meaning and reality as nothing but the depiction of a factual situation in reality through language.
In short, the use of perfect logical language presupposes the proper use of language tools. Instead of each word having a specific function, each sentence only represents a factual situation. Therefore, a perfectly logical language will contain syntactic meaning to prevent an expression from becoming meaningless. In addition, it has a single symbol which always means limited but unique.
Philosophy of Images
For Wittgenstein, philosophy is a means of showing what people cannot say. By presenting what they say, therefore, philosophy must contain clarity. According to G. H. von Wright, the function of the theory lies in a correspondence between elements in reality and images. People could reverse the meaning of the figure of speech by saying that the proposition functions like an image.
It is because there is an appropriate relationship between the elements of the world of fact and the picture. Wittgenstein emphasized it so much that he combined the parts of a proposition. The structure of the theory describes an opportunity for the combination of elements in reality. It might be about a form of event or factual situation. In expressing the world’s materiality, Wittgenstein’s thought formulates a proposition.
Thus, there is a logical fit between the structure of world reality and language. In the Tractatus, he expresses a thesis and its essence through language and becomes a picture of the world. According to him, prepositions are descriptions of reality. If he understands a proposition, he knows the situation he represents. Besides understanding a preposition without knowing its meaning, a preposition shows its definition and stands for if it is true.
Philosophical Investigations
In his other book, Philosophical Investigations, Wittgenstein tries to break back what he believed in the Tractatus. However, he does not banish his first thought. He was more concerned with improving what Wittgenstein wrote, so he wanted his two writings simultaneously to appear more brightly based in opposition to his background. Indeed, the Tractatus emphasizes how society cannot understand philosophy.
According to him, people’s ignorance of the thoughts of philosophers lies in the use of the language that the philosophers use. However, they don’t understand the use of logic in philosophizing. In essence, philosophy does not only contain explanations about a problem but also about clarity. Indeed, there is a continuity between the Tractatus and the Philosophical Investigations.
However, both also have the spirit of renewal which contains the combination of the two books. Between the two books, the essential difference is evident in Wittgenstein’s rejection of language as a state of affairs, language describes a truthful state, and language can act as the language of perfect logic. The expression presupposes a very close relationship, even though there is a profound change.
Of the two works by Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations is a development of the Tractatus so that what Tractatus says in the language, in general, is part of what we know as language games.
Language Games
In theory, language has a rule as well as in a game. In a game, it has a rule that governs the course of the game. Likewise, with language, a player does not necessarily play without knowing the game’s rules. Words in a sentence have rules; for example, the word’s use “moon” in a sentence. The context in which we use the term will determine which of its numerous meanings it possesses.
The words in the sentences “there was no moon” and “many moons had passed” have very different meanings. That is what Wittgenstein wanted to do in his concept of language games. In the thought, he tries to explain the use of language and its nature in everyday life. What Wittgenstein described in his idea in Tractatus about the nature of language does not seem very clear in daily language.
In everyday life, he forgets there are different languages and different game rules. Of course, the various realities of life underlie Wittgenstein’s concept. In life, he realizes that there are numerous varieties of languages that we encounter. The diversity of languages he means is not various kinds of languages such as English, Latin, and so on. Nor is it the language of science similar to philosophy’s and literature’s language.
The Meaning of Language
By preference, ordinary language is a Wittgenstein concept. Therefore, the meaning of a language depends on the context of its use in everyday life. As humans, we do not necessarily use a word without knowing the use of the word in a sentence. Likewise, with language confusion, a lack of understanding of the rules of a language game often causes language destruction.
According to him, we must understand a language according to the context of its use in a sentence. Sentences or words have meaning if we can use them according to the context. Likewise, with scientific language that we cannot mix up in a relaxed or relaxed manner, it has its own rules. Confusion about a language arises when people apply the rules of one language game to another form of language game.
According to Wittgenstein, people cannot determine a language game that is general in nature and applies to various language contexts of human life. Indeed, the meaning of a word depends on its usage in a sentence. Language depends on its use in life, while the meaning of sentences depends on its use in the language. For example, the distortion of the meaning of words is not a stranger to us; it has become a trend in the mass media.
The Clarity of Words
People use it to seek sensation, fame, and power. Apart from sacrificing truth for the sake of popularity, people distort the meaning and language of a word in such a way as to mask logic that makes no sense. Therefore, language games are means for humans to express their concepts and thoughts about simple language. As Wittgenstein stated, language confusion often occurs when the language we use is not following human language.
It starts from his thinking that language games can be a basic foundation in analyzing the use of language that a few people use in public spaces. Yet, a clarification of the theory demands a clarification of an event or expression. An individual does not necessarily speak without paying attention to the rules in a language. They don’t necessarily use the same formulation in different contexts.
According to the views of experts, clarification is an attitude or way of explaining the truth. From incorrect information that has already been circulating, we must analyze the clarity of the meaning, event, and expression of words.
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