Philosophical Investigations

What in the Tractatus is Wittgenstein Talking About? Early Wittgenstein seems to suggest that sentences of natural science have meaning, without being able to give meaning to the way of which we understand those sentences. This dismisses philosophy as only a tool to help clarify claims of natural science. However, he uses philosophy to come to this realization. He makes the realization that the way he explains his own findings are in fact a violation of those findings stating, “My propositions are elucidatory in this way: he who understands me finally recognizes them as senseless” (M&S 128). However, his original findings are so obscure that it is difficult to follow his propositions long enough to understand him. In this essay, I am attempting to explain how his propositions are indeed senseless by means of his own logic, and in return, argue why that makes them hard to understand and comprehend. My essay is set-up in three sections and a conclusion. In section one of my essay, I will explain Wittgenstein’s views on meaningful sentences, in From the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. In section two, I will state why he believes his findings to be senseless and argue why that makes them difficult to understand and comprehend. Also, how it leaves unanswerable questions of why people seem to find meaning in propositions that are not of natural science. In section three, I will attempt to write a possible criticism from Early Wittgenstein’s point of view, on how to answer the…

I believe that God allows evil to exist for reasons that we do not understand, but I also believe that he was not the one who created it. I believe that God created man, and that man created evil. According to the bible, God The reason as to why God allows evil may never be known, but others have arrived at the conclusion that God must want to teach people a lesson. Another theory is that he literally cannot or will not do anything to stop evil from happening because he gave us free will.…

Descartes has written six meditations on First Philosophy, with some being more important than the other. The third meditation does seem to stand out among the rest as the most important. The goal of this meditation is to find out if there is a God and whether or not God is a deceiver. After reading the third meditation, you take a step back to realize the importance of what the meditation had uncovered. There are different types of Ideas, which might not seem so important to the whole…

Many wonder what is the root of all evil and most conclude that people are simply innately evil or have a darkness in them that is waiting to show itself. The topic of evil and where it really comes from has caused a debate among many people who take a variety of stances. One such person, William Golding, writes a novel called Lord of the Flies to display his position on the topic of evil. Through his character’s in Lord of the Flies, Golding conveys his opinion that humans are born with natural…

In Boethius’s second commentary on Porphyry’s Isagoge he discusses and attempts to answer some of the questions Porphyry poses in his work. These questions have according to Boethius “been attempted by learned men, but have not been solved by many of them” (20). The questions were whether or not Universals are subsistent or only in understanding, if they are subsistent are they corporeal or incorporeal in nature, and finally if they are separate from or component in the objects they classify. In…

A person’s identity is something that is very personal and is hard to describe and express to other people. Some people prefer to be identified by their physical characteristics, whereas others would rather be identified by their personality and how they are as a person. Knowing the difference between the two is one of the hardest things to do when you first meet someone. The same thing applies to art when trying to capture the identity of the artist. One’s identity can be defined by their…

Recently I’ve been thinking quite a bit about identity. Partially due to our discussions regarding it in class but also because of the part of my life I’m in. This is my second month of Freshman year and I have no idea where I fit into all of this. I feel like I’ve spent my whole life building an identity expecting it to be done by now. However, I am beginning to realize just how far I have to go and how excited I am to start. With this new objective in mind, I decided to take this class as a…

A) Place is a concept of two levels of meaning (Imort, Knox, Marston, and Nash 41). First, it is an objective location that has both uniqueness and interdependence with other places (Imort, Knox, Marston, and Nash 41). Second, it is a subjective social and cultural construct. In other words, somewhere that has personal meaning for individuals or groups (Imort, Knox, Marston, and Nash 41). York University is definitely a place, because one of York University‘s campuses is named “Keele campus”.…

There are different meanings for each word that is said in a language. Especially the English language. While Precession may have been looked at as angles of torque for physics or body mechanics; in astronomy precession refers to any of several slow changes in an astronomical body's rotational or orbital parameters. An example would be the steady change in the orientation of the axis of rotation of the Earth. How the earth rotates and what angle it is at changes many things. The sky we see today…

CONCEPT PAPER My identity is a collection of thoughts, feelings, and ideals that best describe how I perceive myself. I consider my own identity as that of a caring and outgoing young man, who is viewed by his friends as somewhat charismatic. For example, physically I am a young man impacted by spina bifida, a condition in which a portion of the spine is outside the body at birth. The…