Wittgenstein - The First Incarnation: In Search of the Elusive Simple (Part 1)

On The Very Idea - A Philosophy Podcast

In this first episode of a three part series, I look at the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein - the enigmatic Austrian philosopher of the early half of the 20th century. I examine his pursuit of the goal of constructing the perfect language - one that was beautiful in its simplicity and could show how each meaningful sentence 'pictured' a part of reality. Language would hook up with reality via simples - basic words that represent simple objects. Wittgenstein had an often puritanical pursuit of truth and I try to show how this helped inform his ambitious philosophy.