Abstract
Some forty pages into Philosophical Investigations, the central work of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s later philosophy, the author tells us: “A rule stands there like a sign-post” (PI §85).
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Notes
- 1.
All references to the Philosophical Investigations will be denoted “PI” followed by the number of the relevant section (if not explicitly delineated in the main text).
- 2.
The story of Wittgenstein’s involvement in the design of his sister’s house is well known. While his sister Margarethe Stonborough-Wittgenstein had wanted her brother involved in its design from the start, she began the project by engaging architect Paul Engelmann. In the spring of 1926, Engelmann outlined the massing of the building and basic layout of the rooms on the ground floor. Over time, Wittgenstein became increasingly involved in the process, first officially becoming co-architect for the house by September of that year, and then taking control over the project completely. Wittgenstein thus was the sole architect during the later stages of the house’s conception, during which he designed the house’s interiors, windows, and finishes, and made all final determinations on the house’s massing.
- 3.
The Tractatus is a series of discrete propositions, logically ordered and numbered to the fifth decimal place. By contrast, the Investigations is an open-ended sequence of sections, numbered 1–693, each composed of one or a few short sentences or paragraphs.
- 4.
All references to the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus will be denoted “TLP” followed by their associated decimal reference number (if not explicitly delineated in the main text).
- 5.
For a more in-depth discussion of many of these issues, see Last (2008, 2012).
References
Last, Nana. (2008) Wittgenstein’s house: language, space and architecture. Reprint, New York: Fordham University Press, 2012.
Nedo, Michael. (1993) Introduction. In: Ludwig wittgenstein: wiener ausgabe. Vienna and New York: Springer-Verlag.
Wittgenstein, Ludwig. (1922) Tractatus logico-philosophicus. Trans. C.K. Ogden. Reprint, London: Routledge, 1974.
Wittgenstein, Ludwig. (1953) Philosophical investigations: the English text of the third edition. Trans. G.E.M. Anscombe. Reprint, New York: Prentice Hall, 1968.
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Last, N. (2020). The Lens of Architecture: Wittgenstein, Vision, Space, and Language. In: Wuppuluri, S., da Costa, N. (eds) WITTGENSTEINIAN (adj.). The Frontiers Collection. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27569-3_28
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