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Material Points and Formal Concepts in the Early Wittgenstein
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2020
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In an influential article, Gerd Grasshoff has argued for the identification of the objects in Wittgenstein's Tractatus with the ultimate constituents of reality in Heinrich Hertz's Principles of Mechanics. Grasshoff's interpretation is based on two interrelated claims: (1) The specific determination of the objects in the world and the relation among them is the primary theme in Wittgenstein's early philosophy, because it is the primary theme for Hertz. (2) Wittgenstein did not assume the existence of simple objects on purely logical grounds without having specific examples of simple objects in mind, because Hertz did not do this.
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References
1 Abbreviations: Wittgenstein, Ludwig Notebooks 1914-16, 2nd ed. Wright, G.H. von and Anscombe, G.E.M. eds., Anscombe, G.E.M. trans. (Oxford: Blackwell 1979)Google Scholar [= NB]; Prototractatus: An Early Version of Tractatus Logico-Phüosophicus, McGuinness, B.F. Nyberg, T. G.H. von, Wright eds., Pears, D.F. and McGuinness, B.F. trans. (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul 1971)Google Scholar [= PT]; Wittgenstein, Ludwig Tractatus Logico-Phüosophicus, Pears, D.F. and McGuinness, B.F. trans. (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul 1971)Google Scholar [= TLP]; Wittgenstein, Ludwig Culture and Value, Wright, G.H. von ed., Winch, P. trans. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1980)Google Scholar [= CV]; Hertz, Heinrich The Principles of Mechanics, Jones, D.M. and Wiley, J.T. trans. (Boston: Dover 1956)Google Scholar [= PM].
2 Grasshoff, Gerd ‘Hertzian Objects in Wittgenstein's Tractatus,’ British Journal for the History of Philosophy 5 (1997), 95–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar A similar Interpretation has been suggested by Griffin, James Wittgenstein's Logical Atomism (Oxford: Oxford University Press 1965), 4–5;Google Scholar 49-50. For a critical overview of interpretations inspired by Grasshoff's article, see Nordmann, Alfred ‘Another New Wittgenstein: The Scientific and Engineering Background of the Tractatus,’ Perspectives on Science 10 (2002) 356-84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Grasshoff has pointed out several terminological problems in the English translation of the Principles of Mechanics as well as in the McGuinness-Pears translation of the Tractatus. Throughout the presentpaper, Grasshoff's suggestions concerning terminology have been adopted.
3 Grasshoff, ‘Hertzian Objects in Wittgenstein's Tractatus,’ 102-12.
4 Ibid., 88.
5 C.K. Ogden's translation; see Wittgenstein, Ludwig Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (London, 1922).Google Scholar The emphases in this and all other citations are Wittgenstein's.
6 Keyt, David ‘A New Interpretation of the Tractatus Examined,’ Philosophical Review 74 (1965) 229–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7 Contrary, e.g., to the view of Carruthers, Peter. Cf. his The Metaphysics of the Tractatus (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1990), ch 3.Google Scholar
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10 Cf. the original edition: Hertz, Heinrich Die Prinzipien der Mechanik: In neuem Zusammenhange dargestellt, Gesammelte Werke, vol. 3, Lenard, Philip ed. (Leipzig, 1894).Google Scholar
11 Janik, ‘How Did Hertz Influence Wittgenstein's Philosophical Development?’ 27Google Scholar
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