ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an account of the changing picture of language, entertained by Ludwig Wittgenstein, and of the metamorphosis his concept of semantic necessity underwent as his perspective shifted. It describes the intellectual context in which they were produced and explores both the Tractarian and post-Tractarian accounts of language. The chapter brings out the ironic dimension of his writing, which is a key not only to his own method of doing philosophy, but to the way it connects with a dialectical tradition which culminates in K. Marx’s theory of history. The later writings have a sketch-book-like appearance which contrasts sharply with the rigidly programmatic character of the first great book. The sheer range and complexity of the matters covered in the Wittgensteinian corpus — especially if account is taken of the mass of material that has appeared since the publication of the Investigations — makes a neat division into conjunctive and disjunctive themes both undesirable and probably impossible.
