I think he has offered some really insightfull thoughts. I remember him; that is for sure. May I ask which book of his hand you are reading?

I'm only reading the biography by Monk right now, but plan on reading On Certainty and anything else that might help me prepare for the course (we'll be reading Philosophical Investigations). I'm apprehensive about reading the Tractatus (right now) simply because I know his views changed so drastically between the two writings.

How is your knowledge of logics?

Eh, so so I suppose. Nothing spectacular but I've taken Intro to Symbolic logic and read a couple of beginner's books.

I really do recommend the Tractatus. Even though he changes his opinion there are many wonderfull things in there which Wittgenstein points to. The logic is merely "a bit hard". I think I am going to quote a teacher of mine, who said that we do not remember philosophers because of the conclusions they form, but because of the topics they discuss and the seperations and combinations that they maken.

Well thanks

If I get through On Certainty and the Blue/Brown books (as well as some other non-required reading) then I'll check it out. I'm sure at some point in time I'll read it regardless, though.

I applaud your drive to read the works on your own. I have noticed because of that how often my fellow students were speaking utter nonsense...not to mention my teachers..

Welcome Chandler! I think you've come to the right place. Please don't hesitate to get involved in the ongoing discussions or start one on a new topic. Great to have you here and hope you enjoy this growing community.

I'm not ready to study Wittgenstein, so I don't have any direct knowledge of him. However, I did recently hear a few people comment on him. One of the comments came from an interview on the ABC radio show 'The Philosophers Zone'. The interviewee is writing a history of philosophy book and commented that Wittgenstein is probably one of the greatest philosophers that ever lived, and he didn't realize this until he sat down to write his commentaries on him.

From what I understand, he is extremely puzzling. Not to mention that he developed two radically different philosophies. One of which a school of philosophy was built on, the logical positivists.

Like you said, it is probably to early to tell, but it sound like he has boldly left his mark.

------------
For those who care, the website to the Philosopher's Zone is:
Philosopher's Zone

After solving the Russels Paradox (and paradoxes in general) he took a holiday saying he had solved all philosophical problems. His teacher (Bertrand Russel) thought he was a genius (that is something coming from Bertrand Russel) and published his work Tractatus Philosophico Logico. He insisted Wittgenstein would continue Philosophy and suggested Wittgenstein would offer the Tractatus as a doctoral thesis (Russel also wrote an introduction to the work; but Wittgenstein thought he missed some of the points of the work) thus promoting him and getting him a job as a teacher on Cambridge (Trinity College).

That is a big mark to leave.

p.s. The logical positivism is a direct result of skepticism. Wittgenstein merely pointed it out and blew life into a "movement".


------------
For those who care, the website to the Philosopher's Zone is:
Philosopher's Zone[/quote]