Article/Publication Details

(M)any Questions? A Comparison of the Use of Questions in Wittgenstein’s first 37 paragraphs of Philosophical Investigations with Austin’s essay “The Meaning of a Word”

(Original title: (M)any Questions? A Comparison of the Use of Questions in Wittgenstein’s first 37 paragraphs of Philosophical Investigations with Austin’s essay “The Meaning of a Word”)
Organon F, 2014, vol. 21, No 1, pp. 101-120.
Language: English
File to download: PDF*
BibTex EndNote Tagged EndNote XML RIS

Document Statistics:

Number of visits: 2,717
Number of visits today: 2
Last visit: 24.04.2024 - 20:13
PDF downloads: 915

Abstract

Wittgenstein’s approach to philosophy is closely related not only to the content but also to the form of his investigations. The following paper presents the uniqueness of Wittgenstein’s writing style, namely his use of questions, by comparing part of his work with Austin’s essay. For this purpose a typology of questions with regard to their function in the text is established and applied. The difference between Wittgenstein’s and Austin’s writing style is then documented by the frequency of certain types of questions, and omission of others, and related to some of Wittgenstein’s remarks about his approach to philosophical inquiry. The difference is then summarized tentatively as one between “pedagogical” and “academic” writing style, which poses questions concerning the translation of Wittgenstein’s investigations into academic prose.

Keywords

Academic, Austin, pedagogical, Philosophical Investigations, philosophy, questions, response, stylistic, typology, Wittgenstein, writing style, “The Meaning of a Word”

*The article is subject to copyright.