AfterWhom

Analytical Philosophy

Ludwig Wittgenstein

1889–1951 · Analytical Philosophy

The Philosopher Who Drew the Limits of Language

Wittgenstein is for the person who suspects that most philosophical problems are actually problems of language — and that clarity about what we can and cannot say is the deepest kind of thinking there is. You've probably had the experience of an argument that felt irresolvable, then realised the two sides were using the same words to mean different things. Wittgenstein built two entire philosophies from this observation — the first showing what language cannot say, the second showing that meaning lives in how we use words, not in what they refer to. He is the most difficult thinker on this list, and one of the most rewarding.
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Where to Start Reading

Philosophical Investigations

Wittgenstein's second masterwork — the argument that meaning is use, not reference. Written as numbered remarks, not chapters. Difficult, but passages can be read independently. Start with §1–100.

Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

Wittgenstein's first philosophy — a crystalline attempt to show the limits of language. Seven propositions, 80 pages. The final line is one of the most famous in philosophy.

Wittgenstein's Poker (Edmonds and Eidinow)

Not by Wittgenstein but about him — a narrative account of his famous ten-minute confrontation with Karl Popper. The most accessible way into his life and intellectual world.

“Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.”

Related Thinkers

Taoist Philosophy
Lao Tzu
6th–4th c. BC
The Sage of Strategic Surrender
Classical Philosophy
Plato
428–348 BC
The Inventor of the Examined Life
Stoic Philosophy
Marcus Aurelius
121–180 AD
The Private Notebook of an Emperor