A Hertzian Interpretation of Wittgenstein's Tractatus

Bizarro, Sara (2002) A Hertzian Interpretation of Wittgenstein's Tractatus.

Abstract

In this paper I compare Hertz and Wittgenstein in order to bring forth a new interpretation of the Tractatus. I look at Wittgenstein’s ideas about simple objects and compare them with Hertz’s material particles. I then claim that if one understands Hertz’s material particles as logical entities that are co-ordinate like instead of 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.