International Journal of English Language and Translation Studies (Mar 2021)

Inference, Interpretive Strategies, and Strategic Interpretation: A Reading of Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and Philosophical Investigation

  • Alia Abbas Mohammed Hassan Mabrouk

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 09, no. 01
pp. 25 – 33

Abstract

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Wittgenstein's analytic enterprise represents a major intellectual challenge for the philosophy of science and for a variety of humanistic disciplines. Reconstructing the epistemic fabric of logic and problematizing the nature of reasoning and argumentation, Wittgenstein's intellectual stance compels theorists and critics to revise their methods of argumentation and of making inferences, and forces them to question the validity of the techniques used in textual exegesis. The aim of this paper is to offer a reading of Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and Philosophical Investigations that represent the fulcrum of his thought. The reading focuses on Wittgenstein's reevaluation of logical reasoning, his refutation of Russell's theory of types, and his concepts of logical atomism, the picture theory of language, and language-games. The paper also investigates the impact of Wittgenstein's thought on the process of interpretation of texts, and how his thought sets an example of how interpretive strategies should proceed without a priori assumptions or transcendental hypothesizing. Refusing a whole gamut of idealist, rationalist, and empiricist techniques used to verbalize reality and offer interpretations of a state of affairs, Wittgenstein calls for interpretive strategies – and not a strategic or codified interpretation – that are not enclosed on a set of stable signifieds and that do not emanate from preplanned strategies.

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