Dialectic of the Ladder
Wittgenstein, the 'Tractatus' and Modernism
1st Edition
Published on 27. August 2015
208 pages
978-1-4725-9142-5 (ISBN)
Description
Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1922) remains one of the most enigmatic works of twentieth century thought. In this bold and original new study, Ben Ware argues that Wittgenstein's early masterpiece is neither an analytic treatise on language and logic, nor a quasi-mystical work seeking to communicate 'ineffable' truths. Instead, we come to understand the Tractatus by grasping it in a twofold sense: first, as a dialectical work which invites the reader to overcome certain 'illusions of thought'; and second as a modernist work whose anti-philosophical ambition is intimately tied to its radical aesthetic character.
By placing the Tractatus in the force field of modernism, Dialectic of the Ladder clears the ground for a new and challenging exploration of the work's ethical dimension. It also casts new light upon the cultural, aesthetic and political significances of Wittgenstein's writing, revealing hitherto unacknowledged affinities with a host of philosophical and literary authors, including Hegel, Kierkegaard, Marx, Nietzsche, Adorno, Benjamin, and Kafka.
By placing the Tractatus in the force field of modernism, Dialectic of the Ladder clears the ground for a new and challenging exploration of the work's ethical dimension. It also casts new light upon the cultural, aesthetic and political significances of Wittgenstein's writing, revealing hitherto unacknowledged affinities with a host of philosophical and literary authors, including Hegel, Kierkegaard, Marx, Nietzsche, Adorno, Benjamin, and Kafka.
More details
Edition
1. Auflage
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
ISBN-13
978-1-4725-9142-5 (9781472591425)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
04/2017
Bloomsbury Academic
€55.30
Shipment within 15-20 days
Book
08/2015
Bloomsbury Academic
€176.00
Shipment within 15-20 days
Person
Ben Ware is a Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of English Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London, UK.
Content
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Preface
1 Modernity-Modernism-Avant-Garde
2 Ethics and the Literary in Wittgenstein's Tractatus
3 Modernity, Culture and the Question of Politics
4 The Tractatus, Modernism and the Limits of Language
5 Towards a Literary Use of Wittgenstein: The Tractatus
and Kafka's 'Der Bau'
Notes
References
Index
Abbreviations
Preface
1 Modernity-Modernism-Avant-Garde
2 Ethics and the Literary in Wittgenstein's Tractatus
3 Modernity, Culture and the Question of Politics
4 The Tractatus, Modernism and the Limits of Language
5 Towards a Literary Use of Wittgenstein: The Tractatus
and Kafka's 'Der Bau'
Notes
References
Index
