The Blue Book
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1933-1934
- Form
- Treatise
- Language
- English
- Length
- Short · 80 ppunder 120 pages
- Difficulty
- Difficult4 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendThe Blue and Brown BooksBlackwell, 1998Prints both sets of dictated notes; the Blue Book is the first half and is usually what is assigned.
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Notes dictated to a small group of students at Cambridge in 1933 and 1934, circulated in blue covers and published after Wittgenstein's death. They open with the question what is the meaning of a word, and refuse to answer it by pointing to a mental object. Instead Wittgenstein introduces the ideas that would carry the later philosophy: language games, family resemblance rather than shared essence, the craving for generality as a philosophical disease, and the argument that talking about my pain and your pain does not describe two instances of one private thing. It is the shortest way into the late Wittgenstein.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns The Blue Book are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
