An Analysis Of Wittgenstein's Theory Of Meaning

The theory of meaning is a very important problem of the philosophy of language.Generally,There are several types of meaning theory about this problem: the referential theory of meaning,the theory of idealism and the meaning as use.Frege is a representative figure of the referential theory of meaning,he makes strictly distinction between the meaning and the reference of a name,the meaning and reference are distinguished from the perspective of name and statement.From the point of his view,an object may have same reference but the meaning is different,a name may be have meaning but not necessarily referential.Russell believed that Frege did not distinguish between the name and the description,he made a strict distinction between them,It is believed that a specific name can be given by one or several qualified descriptions.According to Russell’s theory of meaning,the meaning of a name is what it refers to as the object,the meaning of the name is same as the object it refers to.Wittgenstein’s philosophy has experienced from the early to the late process,the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus represent his early point and the Philosophical Investigations represent his late views.Similarly,Wittgenstein’s theory of meaning has experienced a transition from early to late.In a general way,we think Wittgenstein insisted on theory of picture in his early years,meaning is what it’s denoted.The late Wittgenstein turned to the point of language’s use,and believe that the meaning of language is to use.The transformation of his theory of meaning in the late period is derived from the criticism of the early meaning picture theory.The theory of picture is based on the logic atomism.Early Wittgenstein believe that language and the world has a common nature,by the late,the absolutely simple object cannot be find,basic proposition and atomic fact does not exist,there are not the same logic between the language and the world.So,the theory of picture about meaning can not be established.In Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus,Wittgenstein use logical analysis method to analyze the proposition completely,see the simple name and basic proposition as two different levels of logical atoms,establish the referential theory of name based on simple names represent for simple objects,and establish the picture theory of meaningful propositions based on the basic proposition is a logical picture of events.In the early stage of Wittgenstein,logic is the context and logic is exalted,he conceived of language and thought as something unique,always trying to find the common essence of language,world and thought.In Philosophical Investigations,Wittgenstein asked to bring the early logic of the concept of the super concept or formal concept into the daily life,focus on examining their daily and practical usage.Deeply criticized the view of the essence of Augustine’s language and the picture theory,and established his own meaning theory.First of all,the paper discussed the significance as Wittgenstein theoretical sources of Frege and Russell’s theory of meaning,through to analyzing Frege and Russell’s point of view,we can better understand the early Wittgenstein on the picture theory.Around the picture theory in his early philosophy,we illustrate it’s basic point and main content from the views of object,proposition and picture,analyze and pointed out that what he insisted on is the logical context of early position.Late Wittgenstein to persevere in the position of daily language context,denied that there is a common nature of language and the world,and they have no common logical form,no longer only ask the concept itself,but to explore the use of words,insist that the meaning of the words is its usage.The point of “meaning as use” shows that the criticism of his early referential theory of name and propositional meaning.However,it is worth noting that Wittgenstein has not completely abandoned the theory of the meaning of the early picture theory,but opposes the essence and generalization of it.