In what ways does the Philosophical Investigations differ from the Essay

In what ways does the Philosophical Investigations differ from the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus - Essay Example He then, in the early paragraphs of the book, subjects a series of doctrines of the Tractacus to sustained criticisms. Although the Tractacus is only occasionally mentioned explicitly, the critiques in the Philosophical Investigations certainly read like a dismantling of the most characteristic ideas of the earlier opus. Because of this, the attitude arose that the Tractacus should be regarded as of largely historical interest and that many of its deepest insights were in danger of being completely overlooked and lost. In light of these, the differences in the Tractacus Logico-Philosophicus can be seen in the discourse of concepts such as ‘confusion† and â€Å"consciousness† as well as in terms of the issue of continuity of Wittgenstein’s philosophies. There was also a radical shift in his conception of language. The Tractacus is considered to be a classic of Western philosophy. In a sense it can be seen as representing both the zenith and the nadir of certain philosophies. It was taken up by the logical positivists as representative of their work. The Tractacus, wrote, Milbank, Pickstock and Graham (1998), embodies the philosophical desire to explain the world, to be able to break it down into analytical parts, whether non-composite simple objects, elementary propositions (elementals), or logical structures. (p. 66) The Philosophical Investigations meanwhile is usually viewed as radically altering Western analytical philosophy, ushering in the â€Å"linguistic turn.† In an attempt to present a synopsis of the thought, Milbank, Pickstock and Ward point to the usual suggestion that it refutes the picture theory of language and its metaphysical explanation while examining various metaphysical problems by dissolving them through an examination of the language used to generate them rather than trying to resolve any of them. (p. 68) The Tractacus is a carefully constructed set of short propositions