Science and the limits of language: An interpretation of the "Tractatus Logico-Philosphicus", 6.3-6.372.

Abstract

This thesis, "Science and the Limits of Language: An Interpretation of the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 6.3-6.372" is a detailed examination, remark by remark, of Wittgenstein's section on science in the Tractatus. In general, much less attention has been devoted to Wittgenstein's remarks about science than to other sections in the Tractatus. I bring out some of the ways in which recent interpretations by commentators are in conflict with each other and argue that they fail to account for all of Wittgenstein's remarks in this section. I then show that Wittgenstein's remarks about science, both individually and as a whole, are very much in keeping with his remark in the Preface to the Tractatus that he is "draw (ing) a limit ... to the expression of thoughts". On my view, the 6.3s is best seen not as an isolated section contributing solely to philosophy of science, but rather as an integral part of Wittgenstein's larger task of delineating the limits of the expression of thoughts.