Books in the Elements in the Philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein series

Ludwig Wittgenstein is one of the most widely read philosophers of the twentieth century. But, with one exception, the books in which his philosophy was published were posthumously edited from the writings he left to posterity. This Element explores how his 20,000 pages of philosophical writing became published volumes.

This Element begins with a grammatical and phenomenological characterization of Wittgensteinian 'aspects.' It concludes by proposing that aspect perception reveals the distinction between the world as perceived and the world as objectively construed, and the role we play in the constitution of the former.

Starting from the difficulties found in historical and current debates, drawing on the background of Russell's philosophy, and grounded in the ladder structure expressed in the numbering system of the book, this Element presents the central arguments of the Tractatus.