From The "can Not Say" Look At The The Wittgenstein Significance Of The Concept Of Evolution

The theory of meaning is the key issue in the philosophy of language. As one of the geatest linguistic philosophers of the 20^th century, Wittgenstein's views of meaning plays a unique role in the whole philosophy of language. The view of meaning in his early"Picture Theory"pushes the development of the analytic philosophy to the acme, while the one in his later"Game Theory"inaugurates the new era of the philosophy of ordinary language. My study has found that the"Verificationist Theory of Meaning", which is Wittgenstein's mid-term view of meaning has not been given due recognition for a long time, and that is also the reason why it has been broadly accepted in academe that the views of meaning, even the whole philosophy of language has experienced a"transition"from his early theories to later theories. My thesis bases on early Wittgenstein's"delimitation work", known as the theory of"Unsayability", and makes it the clue and breakthrough point of the whole study. By inquiring and analyzing Wittgenstein's early, mid-term and later views of meaning, this study comes to the conclusion that Wittgenstein's views of meaning, even his entire philosophy of language undergoes an"evolution"and development; the"Verificationist Theory of Meaning"bears the double cores of both his early and later theories, and it plays an important role in his entire philosophy of language.