Abstract

The main objective of this study is to eliminate the obstacles that the stylistic, structural, and methodological aspects of the text place in the way of reading and understanding Ludwig Wittgenstein's later work. The characteristic features of these elements are developed and discussed in the context of a close reading of the short section on reading in the Philosophical Investigations. Wittgenstein's aim in this section is the negative one of completely undermining explanatory accounts of the meaning of reading in terms of mental states, experiences, or neurophysiological functions of the brain. In this respect the section on reading forms a clearing ground and a propaedeutic to Wittgenstein's conception of understanding as a rule-following activity. ;The signature of Wittgenstein's style is characterized by a dialogic terseness, an economy of expressions manifest in the brevity of numbered remarks, and a number of strategically indirect rhetorical devices. The structure of the text is shown to be discontinuous and multidirectional. The textual organization forms an overlapping and complex network that mirrors the complexity and multifaceted structure of language. The discontinuity easily inhibits following Wittgenstein's thought, and results in a judgment and dismissal of the text as being fragmented, frayed, and thus lacking structure. ;Wittgenstein's method is contrasted to the application of the scientific method to solving philosophical problems and to the phenomenological method of examining experiences. The argument for the existence of a method at all consists in focussing on and developing three methodological principles: recalling the course of philosophical nonsense; reminding ourselves of what we already know; and arranging and rearranging what already lies open to view. ;Bringing philosophical problems to an end by exposing them as pseudo-problems that often are caused by the forms of our expressions, is reached by an Ubersicht, an overview, of the multiple facets of language. Such an overview is gained by an application of Wittingenstein's method. An analysis of the section on reading in terms of its philosophical purpose and point illuminates the complex interplay of the methodological aspects, the unconventional structure of the text, and the profile of Wittgenstein's unique philosophical style