The ''Blue and Brown Books'' are two sets of notes taken during lectures conducted by
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian-British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He is considere ...
from 1933 to 1935. They were
mimeographed
A mimeograph machine (often abbreviated to mimeo, sometimes called a stencil duplicator) is a low-cost duplicating machine that works by forcing ink through a stencil onto paper. The process is called mimeography, and a copy made by the proce ...
as two separate books, and a few copies were circulated in a restricted circle during Wittgenstein's lifetime.
[ Grayling, A. C., ''Wittgenstein: A Very Short Introduction'' (1988) Oxford University Press ] The lecture notes from 1933–1934 were bound in blue cloth, and the notes dictated in 1934–1935 were bound in brown.
Rush Rhees
Rush Rhees (; 19 March 1905 – 22 May 1989) was an American philosopher. He is principally known as a student, friend, and literary executor of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. With G. E. M. Anscombe he was co-editor of Wittgenstein's post ...
published these together for the first time in 1958 as ''Preliminary Studies for the "Philosophical Investigations"''.
[Wittgenstein, Ludwig, ''Preliminary Studies for the "Philosophical Investigations", Generally known as The Blue and Brown Books,'' (1958) Blackwell Publishers Ltd.]
Inchoate versions of many of the ideas that would later be more fully explored in the ''
Philosophical Investigations
''Philosophical Investigations'' (german: Philosophische Untersuchungen) is a work by the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, published posthumously in 1953.
''Philosophical Investigations'' is divided into two parts, consisting of what Wittgens ...
'' are found there, so these offer textual evidence for the genesis of what became known as Wittgenstein's later philosophy.
''The Blue Book''
''The Blue Book'' was dictated from 1933 to 1934, and contains certain themes unaddressed in Wittgenstein's later works, including deliberations on
thinking
In their most common sense, the terms thought and thinking refer to conscious cognitive processes that can happen independently of sensory stimulation. Their most paradigmatic forms are judging, reasoning, concept formation, problem solving, an ...
as operating with signs. An early conception of what would later become known as
language-games
A language-game (german: Sprachspiel) is a philosophical concept developed by Ludwig Wittgenstein, referring to simple examples of language use and the actions into which the language is woven. Wittgenstein argued that a word or even a sentence h ...
is present in the text, which represents the first period of Wittgenstein's thought after 1932, a method of
linguistic analysis
In the study of language, description or descriptive linguistics is the work of objectively analyzing and describing how language is actually used (or how it was used in the past) by a speech community. François & Ponsonnet (2013).
All acad ...
which would later become
ordinary language philosophy
Ordinary language philosophy (OLP) is a philosophical methodology that sees traditional philosophical problems as rooted in misunderstandings philosophers develop by distorting or forgetting how words are ordinarily used to convey meaning in ...
.
While Wittgenstein in ''The Blue Book'' is not dogmatic nor systematic, he does provide arguments that point toward a more self-critical view of language. For example, he does not think that "understanding" and "explaining" are necessarily related. He suggests that when humans are learning a
language-game
A language-game (german: Sprachspiel) is a philosophical concept developed by Ludwig Wittgenstein, referring to simple examples of language use and the actions into which the language is woven. Wittgenstein argued that a word or even a sentence h ...
they are actually being trained to understand it. He writes:
As the citation suggests, Wittgenstein views understanding a language-game as being mostly concerned with ''training'' (which he calls "drill
ng in the above citation). Having said that, Wittgenstein is not one to believe that even understanding a language-game can be reduced to one process; like the plethora of language-games available to human beings, there are also plethora of "understandings." For example, the "understanding" of a language may come about by the "drilling" of the association between the word "yellow" and a yellow-patch; or it may involve learning rules, like rules used in the game of chess. Moreover, Wittgenstein doesn't think that humans use language mechanically, as if following a calculus. He writes in ''The Blue Book'', "
general we don't use language according to strict rules—it hasn't been taught us by means of strict rules, either."
Wittgenstein clarifies the problem of communicating using a human language when he discusses learning a language by "ostensive defining." For example, if one wanted to teach someone that a pencil was called a "pencil" and pointed to a pencil and said, "pencil," how does the listener know that what one is trying to convey is that the thing in front of me (e.g., the entire pencil) is called a "pencil"? Isn't it possible that the listener would associate "pencil" with "wood"? Maybe the listener would associate the word "pencil" with "round" instead (as pencils are, usually, in fact, round!). Wittgenstein writes regarding several possible "interpretations" which may arise after such a lesson. The student may interpret your pointing at a pencil and saying "pencil" to mean the following: (1) This is a pencil; (2) This is round; (3) This is wood; (4) This is one; (5) This is hard, etc., etc.
''The Brown Book''
During the academic year 1934–1935, Wittgenstein dictated to
Francis Skinner
Sidney George Francis Guy Skinner (191211 October 1941) was a friend, collaborator, and lover of the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein.
Biography
He was born in 1912 in Kensington, London, England, and educated at St Paul's School, L ...
and
Alice Ambrose
Alice Ambrose Lazerowitz (November 25, 1906 – January 25, 2001) was an American philosopher, logician, and author.
Early life and education
Alice Loman Ambrose was born in Lexington, Illinois and orphaned when she was 13 years old. She ...
a text of which three copies were typed and bound. Later it became known as ''The Brown Book''. Wittgenstein contemplated publishing and attempted a German revision, but ultimately abandoned the project as worthless.
Possible further book
A further item called ''The Pink Book'' or ''The Yellow Book'' has been speculated to exist, and may be contained in an archive of papers that Wittgenstein posted to a friend of Skinner days after his death.
In popular culture
In the film ''
Ex Machina'', the name of the company designing the artificial intelligence is named 'Blue Book' after Wittgenstein's set of notes, and it is loosely modeled on
Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blue And Brown Books
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Books by Ludwig Wittgenstein
Contemporary philosophical literature
Philosophy of language literature
Ordinary language philosophy
Philosophy books
Logic books
1979 non-fiction books
Books of lectures