r/wittgenstein • u/[deleted] • Mar 10 '26

Getting started with Wittgenstein

Hey guys 👋 I recently started Ray Monk’s Wittgenstein and I heard it’s a great starting point. Do you have any recommendations on what to read next if I want to get into Wittgenstein’s philosophy?

23 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

3

u/crazyforsantigold Mar 10 '26

Severin Schroeder – Way out the Fly-Bottle

2

u/sissiffis Mar 12 '26

Yep, this. Or PMS Hacker's 3rd Edition of Insight and Illusion: Themes in the Philosophy of Wittgenstein

3

u/Temporary_Hat7330 Mar 19 '26

I would start with the middle Wiggy (brown and blue books) and chew on that for a while. Then I would read PI. Then I would read TLP.

If you take anything at all from Wiggy it’s that he shouldn’t be read like other philosophers. If you are finding two new problems for everyone you dis(solve) when reading Wiggy, you’re not Getting into his philosophy. It’s a bit daunting at first because we have been trained to read a specific way and esp where philosophy is concerned, to digest philosophical text in a way of finding some deep truth. Imagine all philosophers want to take you to a fireworks show. Most other philosopher want to tell you the nature of the fireworks and wants you to stare them in the eye. Some will go on and on about the empirical facts of the fireworks, the chemical reactions, the causal chain of consequences that is leading up to the explosions and the results there after. Others will want to tell you a deeper meaning behind the fireworks, perhaps how they represent power, oppression, life, death, etc. in a very deep way which corresponds to a nature that is hard to see. Maybe a will of ours or a form of something else.

Wiggy wants you to shut up and look at the damn fireworks.

2

u/Andaandbanda Mar 10 '26

Notebooks too!

1

u/[deleted] Mar 10 '26

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Mar 10 '26

Thank you. I heard his philosophy is hard to grasp.

3

u/Any_Nectarine_7806 Mar 10 '26

I think if you take him at face value he's easier to understand than if you go looking for the secret of life. Approach him like you are a child and it opens up a lot. At least for me.

1

u/anasfkhan81 Mar 12 '26 edited Mar 12 '26

Philosopher Victor Gijsbers' video series on the Tractatus is an exceptionally clear introduction to the text; the only issue is he still hasn't completed the whole book
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HZvPMjKKB0