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Why Is Wittgenstein Important?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 June 2025

Danièle Moyal-Sharock*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, University of Hertfordshire, UK
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Abstract

Ludwig Wittgenstein’s later philosophy has been hugely influential but can be difficult to understand. He has a radical approach to philosophy. Most philosophers think that questions such as ‘How can I know there is an external world?’ or ‘How is my private inner world of thought and experience related to my body?’ raise genuine puzzles requiring solutions. Wittgenstein, on the other hand, takes such questions to result from linguistic confusion and a scientistic approach to philosophy. Such questions require, not answers, but conceptual elucidation. This article introduces Wittgenstein’s later philosophy.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Royal Institute of Philosophy.

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References

Crick, Francis (1994) The Astonishing Hypothesis: The Scientific Search for the Soul (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons).Google Scholar