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It's funny because aside from denouncing the Tractatus as containing fundamental errors, Wittgenstein in following up with Philosophical Investigations seems to
by siglesias 16y ago
It's funny because aside from denouncing the Tractatus as containing fundamental errors, Wittgenstein in following up with Philosophical Investigations seems to capture language (and, in the extended sense, programming languages) more accurately as a tool. Rather than being a vehicle for making true-false propositions about reality (like a picture), different facets of language are useful in different ways, just like we have a hammer, nails, glue, measuring stick. Just like the world of programs.
Thus the Tractatus framework is somewhat forced and a bit misleading, both in terms of Wittgenstein's own thinking and goodness of fit of the metaphor.
- neilk 16y agoNo, the Tractatus could still be applicable to computer programming. The problem with Wittgenstein's earlier work is that his idea of language was that it modelled reality. However, many computer programs really are trying to model something correctly, or at least that's what the Java and UML books tell us. ;) So the Tractatus could apply. But the latter Wittgenstein is lurking in most real-world programs -- what they do isn't anything about describing a ideal model, it's just... what they do. Anyway, I doubt any of this will help anyone write or understand computing better, but it's fun to think about.
- hxa7241 16y agoWittgenstein reportedly (from Anscombe) used to say that the Tractatus was not all wrong: it was not like a bag of junk professing to be a clock, but like a clock that did not tell you the right time. Which is perhaps more interesting than an ordinary clock anyway! (and I might do part 2 later)