Dawa Ometto: How all things are in all respects

Abstract:

“The world is everything that is the case… the totality of facts, not of things.” These lines, familiar as the opening lines of Wittgenstein’s Tractatus, have engendered much discussion about the relation between thinking and being. They describe the world as in a certain way thinkable, since a fact has the form of a thought. But it would be mistaken to understand this as meaning that the world is made up of thinkable things, as the identity theory of truth has it. A better understanding takes “not of things” more seriously. Reflecting on this will also lead us to the issue of the place of the thinking subject in the world.

Bio:

Martijn Wallage (Universität Leipzig) studied Philosophy most recently at King’s College London (PhD, 2017) and the University of Chicago (visiting, 2013-4, 2015-6). His research is concerned with self-consciousness and self-determination, which he approaches through reflection on the history of philosophy, especially Aristotle and Wittgenstein.

Location:

GWZ H2.1 16