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Series:   Elements in the Philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein

Wittgenstein and Ethics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 February 2024

Anne-Marie Søndergaard Christensen
Anne-Marie Søndergaard Christensen
Affiliation:
University of Southern Denmark

Summary

In Ludwig Wittgenstein's writings, ethics takes a central place in his thinking. This element investigates his engagement with ethics in both early and later thinking. Starting from the remarks on ethics in the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and the framing of these remarks, it presents two influential approaches to Tractarian ethics, before it develops a coherent reading of ethics in the early thinking, focusing on ethical silence and the relationship notions of world and the philosophical 'I'. The reading of 'A Lecture on Ethics' focuses on the critique of ethical theory and the personal dimension of ethics, two themes also running through Wittgenstein's later thinking. It considers Wittgenstein's later ethical investigations, of ethical examples, ethically relevant language uses of language and the connections between reflections on ethics and living. It also considers the role of the other in Wittgenstein's later thinking.
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Keywords

Ludwig WittgensteinethicsTractatus Logico-Philosophicusmoral philosophyethical/moral language
Type
Element
Information
Series: Elements in the Philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein
Online ISBN: 9781009439817
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication: 14 March 2024

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