Abstract
The article contributes to the discussion of Schopenhauer’s possible anticipation of both the representational theory of language and the use theory of meaning and the reception of his philosophy by early and late Wittgenstein. Schopenhauer’s theory of language is presented and brought into the context of these two theories. His use of the terms “word,” “concept,” and “meaning” is analyzed and it is shown that he applies them ambivalently. The article’s main findings include a demonstration of how Schopenhauer’s ambivalent terminology enables the twofold interpretation of meaning: as representation-based and use-based.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
As of August 9, 2018, the last volume, entitled Metaphysik der Sitten, had already been published [9], and the first three volumes are expected to be published before 2019.
- 3.
These correspond with the first two classes of objects distinguished by Schopenhauer in On the Fourfold Root of Sufficient Reason. About the first class he says: “The first class of objects possible to our representative faculty, is that of intuitive (‘anschaulichen’), complete, empirical representations. They are intuitive (‘anschauliche’) as opposed to mere thoughts, i.e., abstract conceptions (‘Begriffe’); […]” [14, p. 31]. The second class “are conceptions (‘Begriffe’), therefore abstract, as opposed to intuitive (‘anschaulichen’), representations, from which they are nevertheless derived” [14, p. 114]. However, in his investigations on language the other two classes distinguished in the work, i.e., the a priori forms of space and time and the subject in volition (“Subjekt des Wollens”), are not mentioned.
- 4.
Actually this division is even more complicated. Schopenhauer also identifies objects in the mind that are perceptual and calls them “phantasms.” They are something like mental images and are opposed to concepts. However, it does not seem necessary to include this problem in the current investigation for the sake of brevity. For the problem of phantasms see Chapter 1, Section 3.2.3 of [1].
- 5.
All translations from German sources for which there were no English translations available were done by myself. This is indicated wherever the original German quotation is in parentheses.
- 6.
However, there is a difference that should be mentioned. Schopenhauer, when talking about such mental states, concludes that meaning is in fact private: “If perceptions were communicable, there would then be a communication worth the trouble; but in the end everyone must remain within his own skin and his own skull, and no man can help another” [12, p. 74]. Wittgenstein also reflects upon this problem in his famous beetle-in-the-box metaphor, but apparently comes to the conclusion that this problem is irrelevant (cf. [17, para. 293]).
- 7.
For Schopenhauer’s use of spherical diagrams, see Jens Lemanski’s article Concept Diagrams and the Context Principle in this volume.
- 8.
A similar example already appears in the first volume of The World as Will and Representation, in the renowned para. 9. There, Schopenhauer discusses the concept of a town we might know only from geography that in fact might be applied to different real towns (cf. [11, p. 42]). Probably he intends to imply that a concept known only from geography is less specific than a concept developed by the subject’s empirical examination of the object, but it has to be said that this example is difficult to interpret and the passage from Parerga and Paralipomena gives better insight into the nature of the problem.
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Dobrzański, M. (2020). Problems in Reconstructing Schopenhauer’s Theory of Meaning: With Reference to His Influence on Wittgenstein. In: Lemanski, J. (eds) Language, Logic, and Mathematics in Schopenhauer. Studies in Universal Logic. Birkhäuser, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33090-3_3
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