ABSTRACT
According to conventional wisdom Wittgenstein falls philosophically silent at the completion of the Tractatus (following the First World War) and remains philosophically silent from 1919 until 1929, at which time he returns to Cambridge and begins (what has come to be known as) his later philosophy. The ten years which separate his early and later writings are worthy of consideration however. According to Bartley, Wittgenstein does not abandon philosophy after the First World War but attempts to put into practice the ethical portion of his earlier writings, while at the same time beginning to formulate the concerns which are to dominate his later philosophy (Bartley 1974b:4-5).1 Wittgenstein’s way of thinking about language and philosophy changes, and his philosophical aims shift from the giving of solutions (or results) to the teaching of methods. The shift from the Tractatus to the Investigations can be seen as both a philosophical and pedagogical shift.
