Abstract

BIZARRO, Sara. A Hertzian interpretation of Wittgenstein's Tractatus. Eidos [online]. 2010, n.13, pp. 150-165. ISSN 1692-8857.

In this paper I will compare Hertz and Wittgenstein in order to bring forth a new interpretation of the Tractatus. I shall look at Wittgenstein's ideas about simple objects and compare them with Hertz's material particles. I shall then claim that if one understands Hertz's material particles as logical entities that are more co-ordinate like than physical, one can reach an interpretation of the Tractatus that is deliberately silent about the nature of reality, therefore escaping both objectivist and subjectivist interpretations of the book. This, I think, is just one of the great results of re-thinking Wittgenstein's ideas through Hertz's.

Keywords : Wittgenstein; Hertz; physics; philosophy of science; history of philosophy.