Early Wittgenstein’s View on Goodness, Happiness, and Acceptance of the World

Ethics was the major issue in Wittgenstein’s writings from 1916 to the time of publication of the Tractatus Logico-philosophicus. He explicates the notion of “good” in terms of “happiness” and the latter as “accepting the world as it is.” Nonetheless, this reductionistic philosophical program could...

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Main Author: Reza Mosmer
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Tabriz, Faculty of Literature and Forigen Languages 2019-08-01
Series:Journal of Philosophical Investigations
Subjects:
Online Access:https://philosophy.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_8789_c00b51c440d516a8c2c0138154347c71.pdf
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author Reza Mosmer
author_facet Reza Mosmer
author_sort Reza Mosmer
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description Ethics was the major issue in Wittgenstein’s writings from 1916 to the time of publication of the Tractatus Logico-philosophicus. He explicates the notion of “good” in terms of “happiness” and the latter as “accepting the world as it is.” Nonetheless, this reductionistic philosophical program could not get off the ground unless there is a pretty clear conception of the notion of “accepting the world.” In this paper, I shall explore two alternative accounts of this concept. According to the first account, which I dub “the actual world hypothesis,” Wittgenstein had meant accepting the actual world by the term “being good.” The alternative account, “the substance of the world hypothesis,” suggests accepting the substance of the world as the best reading of the Tractatus.<br /> Morris and Graver have endorsed the actual world hypothesis, as opposed to the substance of the world hypothesis. In this paper I try to show that they fail to provide good arguments for the former and against the latter. Additionally, I use ideas from McGuinness to illustrate “accepting the substance of the world” in a way that it avoids Graver’s objections. I argue that acceptance of the world ought to be interpreted as “accepting the fact that the world exists.” Finally, I shall point out that despite of his insight about the acceptance of the world, McGuinness misrepresents the relation between accepting the actual world and accepting its substance.
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spelling doaj.art-97eff46dbde34d1189f807363c0e380f2023-09-02T06:38:34ZengUniversity of Tabriz, Faculty of Literature and Forigen LanguagesJournal of Philosophical Investigations2251-79602423-44192019-08-01132729331410.22034/jpiut.2019.31820.22308789Early Wittgenstein’s View on Goodness, Happiness, and Acceptance of the WorldReza Mosmer0استادیار گروه فلسفه ذهن، مؤسسه آموزش عالی علوم شناختی (پژوهشکده علوم شناختی)Ethics was the major issue in Wittgenstein’s writings from 1916 to the time of publication of the Tractatus Logico-philosophicus. He explicates the notion of “good” in terms of “happiness” and the latter as “accepting the world as it is.” Nonetheless, this reductionistic philosophical program could not get off the ground unless there is a pretty clear conception of the notion of “accepting the world.” In this paper, I shall explore two alternative accounts of this concept. According to the first account, which I dub “the actual world hypothesis,” Wittgenstein had meant accepting the actual world by the term “being good.” The alternative account, “the substance of the world hypothesis,” suggests accepting the substance of the world as the best reading of the Tractatus.<br /> Morris and Graver have endorsed the actual world hypothesis, as opposed to the substance of the world hypothesis. In this paper I try to show that they fail to provide good arguments for the former and against the latter. Additionally, I use ideas from McGuinness to illustrate “accepting the substance of the world” in a way that it avoids Graver’s objections. I argue that acceptance of the world ought to be interpreted as “accepting the fact that the world exists.” Finally, I shall point out that despite of his insight about the acceptance of the world, McGuinness misrepresents the relation between accepting the actual world and accepting its substance.https://philosophy.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_8789_c00b51c440d516a8c2c0138154347c71.pdfWittgensteinTractatus Logico-PhilosophicusethicsHappinessAcceptance of the World
spellingShingle Reza Mosmer
Early Wittgenstein’s View on Goodness, Happiness, and Acceptance of the World
Journal of Philosophical Investigations
Wittgenstein
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
ethics
Happiness
Acceptance of the World
title Early Wittgenstein’s View on Goodness, Happiness, and Acceptance of the World
title_full Early Wittgenstein’s View on Goodness, Happiness, and Acceptance of the World
title_fullStr Early Wittgenstein’s View on Goodness, Happiness, and Acceptance of the World
title_full_unstemmed Early Wittgenstein’s View on Goodness, Happiness, and Acceptance of the World
title_short Early Wittgenstein’s View on Goodness, Happiness, and Acceptance of the World
title_sort early wittgenstein s view on goodness happiness and acceptance of the world
topic Wittgenstein
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
ethics
Happiness
Acceptance of the World
url https://philosophy.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_8789_c00b51c440d516a8c2c0138154347c71.pdf
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