Ludwig Wittgenstein, On Certainty (Über Gewissheit)

Winter semester.

On Certainty was Wittgenstein’s last major piece of work, which he wrote during the final year and a half of his life. It is Wittgenstein’s most concentrated examination of the problem of scepticism, which had been a concern of his ever since the Tractatus. Wittgenstein comes to an understanding of what makes doubting and certainty possible, and he offers us a view of language and thought that emphasises their roots in action. We will study the text, linking our discussion to other treatments of the same themes in contemporary philosophy.