Philosophical Investigations

Key Facts

full title  ·  Philosophical Investigations

author  ·  Ludwig Wittgenstein

philosophical movement  ·  Analytic philosophy (though we should note that Wittgenstein rejects the philosophical importance of logic, which is one of the key aspects of analytic philosophy); Ordinary language philosophy

language  ·  German

time and place written  ·  1940's, mostly in Cambridge, England

date of first publication  ·  1953

publisher  ·  Prentice Hall (USA); Basil Blackwell (UK)

speaker  ·  A complex literary style alternates between Wittgenstein's own voice and that of his "interlocutor" (see "Themes, Arguments, and Ideas")

philosophical influences on the work  ·  Primarily Frege, Russell, and Wittgenstein's own early work, though the influence is mostly negative

philosophical influences of the work  ·  Ordinary language philosophy