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International Journal Of Language, Literature And Culture(IJLLC)

Beyond the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus: Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Enduring Language-Games

Shiben Kumar Sarkar


International Journal of Language, Literature and Culture (IJLLC), Vol-2,Issue-2, March - April 2022, Pages 27-34, 10.22161/ijllc.2.2.7

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Article Info: Received: 22 Mar 2022, Received in revised form: 19 Apr 2022, Accepted: 23 Apr 2022, Available online: 30 Apr 2022

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This review article examines the central arguments and scholarly contributions of the research titled “Beyond the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus: Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Enduring Language-Games,” which re-evaluates Wittgenstein’s philosophical trajectory from the logical atomism of his early work to the socially embedded concept of language-games in his later philosophy. The research under review challenges conventional readings that posit a clean rupture between the early and late Wittgenstein, instead arguing for a set of continuities largely overlooked in analytic philosophy. By analyzing the research’s treatment of rule-following, private language, and ordinary language philosophy, this review situates the work within contemporary Wittgenstein scholarship, assesses its methodological innovations, and identifies potential limitations. The article concludes that while the research offers a compelling hermeneutic for reading Wittgenstein as a unified thinker, its reception will likely depend on how convincingly it reconciles the Tractatus’s mystical silence with the later emphasis on public, criterion-governed linguistic practices. Ultimately, this review affirms the enduring relevance of language-games for fields as diverse as cognitive science, political theory, and literary studies.

Wittgenstein, language-games, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, rule-following, ordinary language philosophy, private language argument

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