And in Conclusion...

Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus is the last book of the module and poses as something rather different in comparison to the others. It's very much an economical account of Wittgenstein's basic propositions, individually setting out and developing all seven of them in his own pursuit of philosophy's logical conclusions.

Looking at several more closely, it seems to me that no other studied philosopher was as fundamentally influenced by the analytic nature of science. Reading the book took me back to those painstakingly slow days in the school labs, noting down my observations and expanding upon them to arrive (sooner or later) at some enlightening evaluation. Perhaps with the exception of the shorter first and last propositions, each one demonstrates a meticulous 'breaking down' of reality itself, whereby the existence of its constituent parts is then explained, possibly becoming broken down even further.

The proposition that most interested me was the third, which stated 'The logical picture of the facts is the thought'. This section revisits some of the issues addressed in Kant's philosophy, particularly alluding towards the topic of phenomena and noumena. To Wittgenstein's mind, the 'existence' of noumena is impossible. He argued that if a human being has the potential to imagine something, then by logic the something must be possible, as thoughts themselves may be considered 'factual' simply due to their very existence within our mental reality. Therefore, in opposition to what Kant proposed, nothing can be unknowable and everything is phenomenal.

As previously discussed, Wittgenstein greatly believed in the influence of language and its role in interpreting and solving the philosophical conundrums that have blighted the brightest minds for millenia, since the time of Socrates. However, his statement as part of the third proposition that language cannot contradict logic seems somewhat bold, through its implication that human beings must therefore represent perfection, considering language as a manmade phenomenon. Nonetheless, I agree that many philosophical debates can almost seem to become lost in translation, seeing as language is so flexible and multifaceted. As the book argues, names themselves cannot be analysed in the search for meaning - they tell us how a thing is, not what it is. They are 'primitive signs', which when incorrectly applied to a certain context, allow true meaning to become misconstrued.

So, without language, History and Context of Journalism could not exist, or else we'd have no debates to discuss! But of course, nor could any other module and here lies the crux of Wittgenstein's philosophy. Language is our method for communicating the world to each other, which by his logic, means language itself is a constituent part of our reality. Nor, however, is language a single entity - it represents many entities - and as the Tractatus states, any single thing, in isolation, is unimportant, but the possibility of many things reveals something about the world and its nature. Therefore, the possibility and the subsequent existence of language, reveals it to be of considerable significance to the past, present and future of man's own existence.

His book, like so many before it, rocked the boat of philosophy - no less for its somewhat openly presumptuous manner in presenting the views of the author as fact. But that's what all philosophers aim to achieve, (as we've so often seen). Each harbours a desire to stamp their own signature on the evolution of human understanding, to present their own arguments and ideas for 'unknotting' the complexities of the subject. And I get the impression that we'll be arguing for some time yet - History and Context will be going strong for years to come.

And in conclusion, I'll just point to the concluding line of the Tractatus; even Wittgenstein, it would seem, acknowledged that language cannot always convey the absolute truth of the universe...

'Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent'.