French Literature Reviews - 2026

Y. Rola, Introduction to Ludwig Wittgenstein
Philosophy, Anthropology and Ideas

Introduction to Ludwig Wittgenstein
Younès Rola

Publication date: 12/05/2016 Publisher: La Découverte Collection: Repères ISBN: 978-2-7071-8950-9 EAN: 9782707189509.

Born in imperial Vienna in 1889 and dying in Cambridge, England, in 1951, Ludwig Wittgenstein was a self-taught philosopher whose influence extended far beyond academic circles into popular culture. This book offers a clear introduction to a body of thought often deemed difficult and enigmatic, using Wittgenstein's life as a guiding thread while remaining closely anchored to his work.

What is the difference between the "early" and the "later" Wittgenstein? Why must we pass over in silence "that whereof one cannot speak"? What do concepts from the Wittgensteinian "toolbox" mean, such as "form of life," "language-game," or "synoptic view"? What are Wittgenstein's views on language, ethics, aesthetics, and mathematics? How did he view the culture and sciences of his time? How can we explain Wittgenstein's profound influence on the social sciences, which has been so vast that scholars have spoken of a "Wittgenstein symptom"?

Younès Rola teaches philosophy at Saint Joseph University of Beirut (Lebanon). She is also a researcher in oral history and political anthropology at the Center for the Study of the Arab World (UIR-Mémoire) at Saint Joseph University.

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Contents:

Toward a Wittgensteinian Introduction to Wittgenstein

I / The Journey of an Itinerant Philosopher
The Early Years (1889-1911)
The First Stay in Cambridge and the Tractatus (1913-1919)
The "Lost Years" (1919-1929)
The Return to Cambridge and the Second World War (1929-1945)
The Final Years (1945-1951)

II / Splendors and Miseries of Logical Atomism: The "Early" Wittgenstein
The Linguistic Turn in Philosophy
The Ontology of the Tractatus
Causality, Induction, and Superstition
The Picture Theory of Language
The Proposition as a "Picture of Reality" – The Form of Representation
Saying and Showing
"Old Regime" Philosophy and Wittgensteinian Philosophy
What Method in Philosophy?
The "Metaphysical I" and Solipsism
The Ineffable Truth of Solipsism
Wittgenstein and the Vienna Circle: A Fruitful Misunderstanding

III / "The Superior": Ethics, Mysticism, Aesthetics
The Ineffable Ethics
A Soldier's Philosophy of Life – The Art of Being Happy
Mysticism and Religion
Aesthetics
What Is an Aesthetic Appreciation?

IV / The "Later" Wittgenstein: Philosophical Investigations
Critique of the "Augustinian Conception of Language"
Return to the "Rough Ground": Meaning as Use
Language-Game, Family Resemblance, and Form of Life
Philosophy as a Struggle Against the Bewitchment of Our Intelligence by Means of Language
Replacing Definition with Synoptic Vision
On the Impossibility of a Private Language
What Does It Mean to Follow a Rule?
Critique of Interiority
Critique of Psychology

V / Wittgenstein as Epistemologist
How Can I Know That I Am Not Dreaming?
Grammar of Certainty and Knowledge – Grammar of Error – Grammar of Doubt and the External World
What Explanation in Anthropology?
Against Genetic Explanation: "Seeing Connections"
The Discreet Yet Powerful Charm of Psychoanalysis
"Pure Mathematics" or the Illusory Paradise of Irrefutability

Conclusion / Wittgenstein, Assassin of Philosophy?

Bibliographical References
Abbreviations Used for Wittgenstein's Writings
Works by Wittgenstein
General Bibliography.

Ludwig Wittgenstein remains one of the most significant figures in twentieth-century analytical philosophy, known for his radical shifts in perspective between his early work, the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, and his later Philosophical Investigations. This volume outlines his intellectual trajectory, detailing how his focus on logical atomism and the picture theory of language transitioned into an emphasis on the ordinary use of language and social practices. By grounding these shifts in the biographical details of his life, the text addresses questions regarding the limits of expression and the nature of philosophical inquiry.

The book examines key Wittgensteinian concepts such as language-games, family resemblances, and forms of life, while also situating his work within the context of his engagement with ethics, aesthetics, and mathematics. It further addresses his reception in the social sciences. Readers interested in the history of modern philosophy or the intersection of linguistics and anthropology may find this overview relevant for understanding how Wittgenstein examined the grammar of language.