THE WRONG WAY: THE REQUIREMENT OF CRYSTALLINE PURITY

Michael Zion Anthony G. Madrona1

Introduction
For Wittgenstein, philosophy is an activity of making propositions
clear. By propositions, he means not just a sentence but a conceptualized
fiction expressed in declarative sentences i.e., the meaning of things
expressed in language. In his book Tractatus Logico Philosophicus (TLP), he
argues that problems in philosophy arise because the logic of our language
is misunderstood. It is, then, the job of philosophy to make language as
clear as possible to avoid confusions which causes philosophical problems
to arise. Wittgenstein attempts to make such a clearing of language in TLP
where he argues that ‘ideal’ language is needed for the reason that such
language has an isomorphic relation with thought and reality. Hence, ideal
language is a language that is conceivable and understandable by all or is
applicable to any interpretation of things. However, in his book
Philosophical Investigations (PI), Wittgensteon had a paradigm shift of how
philosophical problems arise and how one can get through it. In PI, he
starts to debunk his former arguments on the importance of logic and ideal
language. This paper exposes the arguments of Wittgenstein in which it
appears that the sublimation of logic and ideal language is the wrong way of
removing confusions in the understanding of reality. This paper focuses on
paragraphs 89-108 of his Wittegenstein’s book Philosophical Investigations
where such arguments are found.

THE WRONG WAY

Our common conception of the world is that it follows rules or

principles and figuring out those underlying rules could help us understand
everything.2 This gives logic an importance to our inquiry of reality since
logic seems to be the foundation of all the sciences for the reason that it
seeks to see the foundation of things. 3 Logic aims for exactness as it
explores the essence of all things. In this sense, it seems clear that logic can

1
Michael Zion Anthony G. Madrona is s third college seminarian of Casiciaco
Recoletos Seminary who is currently taking his bachelor's degree in classical philosophy.
He comes from the province of Bohol. Email Address: madrona@recoletosdebaguio.edu.ph
2
Nick Drury, “Ludwig Wittgenstein’s PHILOSOPHICAL INVESTIGATIONS (the First
120 Aphorisms) | Kno News,”, accessed May 17, 2024, http://knonews.org/ludwig-
wittgensteins-philosophical-investigations-the-first-120-aphorisms/.
3
Ludwig Wittgenstein and Gertrude Elizabeth, Philosophical Investigations: The
German Text with a Revised
explain whatever questions we have in mind about our experiences in
reality. When we ask what is a car or what is a guitar, logic itself can
provide definitions of what is being asked. Such definitions that logic arrives
at can also be considered as universal. This means that whatever logic says
about what a car is or what a guitar is, it would be applicable to the
understanding of all individuals of what is a car or a guitar. For this reason,
does this mean that logic is something sublime?

With logic, it seems that clarity is achieved. The ‘earlier’ Wittgenstein

likely agrees to this claim. In his Tractatus Logico Philosophicus (TLP) he
focused on how the logical structure of language explains what we
experience in reality. As Bertrand Russel states “a logically perfect
language has rules of syntax which prevent nonsense, and has single
symbols which always have a definite and unique meaning.” 4 This perfect
language is what Wittgenstein calls as ‘idea’ language. Because of one’s
desire to have crystalline purity of explanation, he searches for an ideal
language which would clear confusions one’s understanding of reality. Take
for example a person asking what is a knife. To answer his question, he
would look for an ideal language to arrive at exactness of what he wants to
know. It is because ideal language has an isomorphic relation between
though and reality. Such instance explains Wittgenstein picture theory in
TLP. What is expressed in language surely has a logical structure which is
in conformity to a single reality. This makes ideal language as something
that which is necessary in our dwelling in the world. In this sense, one can
say that pre-Wittgensteinian goal of “logic” was to discover the true essence
of all phenomena. However, the earlier Wittgenstein failed to consider its
limitations.
In his Philosophical Investigations (PI), particularly in paragraphs 89-
108, Wittgenstein starts to debunk his former stand on the sublimation of
logic and ideal language in clearing our confusions. Wittgenstein in
paragraph 89 highlights Augustine’s struggle of answering the question
‘what is time?’5 There seems to be a problem in answering such question
since one cannot provide a definitive explanation of what time is. When one

English Translation = Philosophische Untersuchungen (Malden, Ma, Etc.: Blackwell, 2007),

paragraph 89.

4
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (Binker North, 1922), 8.
5
Wittgenstein (2007: §89).
2
would ask ‘what is time?’ or ‘what is intelligence?’, logic alone cannot
account for this investigation. It is difficult for us to provide a universal
concept of what time is as it is something the cannot be pictured in reality.
Yes, we are conscious that live in time or we are bounded by time but we
cannot see or directly experience time. For this reason, logic which
searches for empirical evidences cannot provide an adequate explanation of
the nature of time.

Logic inquires into something specific, it searches for the essence of

things, which cannot answer the questions raised from the previous
paragraph. Wittgenstein suggests examining the possibilities of different
meanings of words and their different practical use. This approach allows us
to study how we understand, know, and perceive things without having
insights of their essence. Looking into the essence of things creates a world
where philosophical theories thrive but which pull us further away from
what is real or ordinary in which genuine understanding of the observable if
possible.6 An example of this is the logical grammatical analysis in TLP
where language is used as a representation of the picture of the world of
facts. Such language is only possible in theory as an idea as such cannot
itself explain the meaning of its propositions.

The ideal language that Wittgenstein spoke of as discussed in the

previous paragraphs is seen as setting limits to what language can
represent. We presume that ideal language is prior to but must be relevant
to all use.7 In this sense, ideal language provides a definite meaning for a
phenomenon. Imagine how one reads the bible. If one tries to understand
the bible as it is – understanding its literal sense, one would only arrive at a
meaning which is limited to what the text is trying to communicate but he
fails to consider what is deeper behind the text which relates to the context
of its use. Setting limits to language is equivalent to killing language. It is
because one is not putting into consideration all other possibilities of
meanings if he only focuses on the isomorphic relation between language,
thought, and reality. By doing this, he is actually not making propositions
clear or removing misunderstandings of our use of language. Rather, one is
letting himself be trapped into a limited horizon of reality which would
actually lead to more confusion when faced with questions such as ‘what is
time?’ Setting limits to our language and searching for the ideal order

6
Pukhaev, Andrey. (2023). “Understanding Wittgenstein's positive philosophy
through language-games: Giving philosophy peace.” Philosophical Investigations, 46: 380
7
Wittgenstein (2007: §98).
3
outside ordinary use of language is comparable to an attempt ‘to repair a
torn spider's web with our fingers.’8

The goal of PI is now different that of TLP’s. It inquires not anymore

of understanding of the essence of language. Rather, it has shifted to an
inquiry of the possibilities of phenomena or the kinds of statement that we
make about phenomena which makes this investigation a ‘grammatical’ one.
This means that one should know how language is used or the context of a
language in order that misunderstandings created by false analogies or by
having different meanings while using one word may be cleared away.

Conclusion

Logic seems to be sublimated as it seems to have a universal

importance. Logic seems to be the foundation of all the sciences for the
reason that it seeks to see the foundation of things. It searches for the
essences of things for this reason, logic results in having clarity and
exactness of our questions about reality. Because of this, ‘ideal’ language is
born. Ideal language is that which is us conceivable by all and is applicable
to all interpretation of meaning of things. However, certain questions from
our individual experiences seem to arise that which logic itself cannot
answer. An example of this would be asking ‘what is time?’ or ‘what is
intelligence?’ Logic with its inquiry to arrive are essences of things -
exactness cannot provide answers to these questions. Ideal language with
its logical structure, which is its correspondence with thought and a certain
reality cannot, account for the different experiences of each individual
about what time is.The requirement for crystalline purity - the need for
exactness of meaning appears to be the wrong way of understanding
language. It is because people have different context of their use of
language i.e., their own language games. Hence, logic in this sense loses its
sublimity. However, logic, with its rigid structure is not removed from one’s
inquiry of reality by means of language-games rather, it comes after our
understanding of experience and practices, with its limited as well as
precise methods of explanation9

8
Ibid. (§106)
9
Pukhaev, Andrey. (2023). “Understanding Wittgenstein's positive philosophy through
language-games: Giving philosophy peace.” Philosophical Investigations, 46: 382
4
5
 Bibliography

Ludwig Wittgenstein, & Elizabeth, G. (2007). Philosophical Investigations:

The German text with a revised English translation = Philosophische
Untersuchungen. Blackwell.

Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (Binker North, 1922)

Nick Drury, “Ludwig Wittgenstein’s PHILOSOPHICAL INVESTIGATIONS

(the First 120 Aphorisms) | Kno News,”
https://knonews.org/ludwig-wittgensteins-philosophical-
investigations-the-first-120-aphorisms/.

Pukhaev, Andrey. (2023). “Understanding Wittgenstein's positive philosophy

through language-games: Giving philosophy peace.” Philosophical
Investigations, 46: 380