An inquiry on Wittgenstein's conception of meaning

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2007
Erşahin, Direnç
This study aims at investigating Wittgenstein’s conception of meaning. In this sense, philosopher’s early and later periods will be examined. Key notions of Wittgenstein’s philosophy of language, picture theory of meaning, language-game, rule following, Private Language Argument and his assertion that ‘meaning is use’ will be analyzed. Out of this analysis, Wittgenstein’s answer to the following basic question will be sought: How is meaning derived in a language? The outcome of this query will be comparatively read with four linguistic theories so as to position Wittgenstein’s conception of meaning with regard to the linguistic turn. As a result of this, it will be argued that Wittgensteinian meaning can be regarded as the very first step of post-structural understanding of meaning and discourse theory.

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Citation Formats
D. Erşahin, “An inquiry on Wittgenstein’s conception of meaning,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2007.