Browsing by Subject "World"

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Open Access
Berkeley and early wittgenstein on solipsism: a review
(University of North Bengal, 2024-03) Nayak, S. Rekha; Mallick, Manoranjan
This paper gives an exposition of the conception of solipsism of both Berkeley and early Wittgenstein followed by a critical assessment of the same. Both of them argue that solipsism is not different from realism. The difference lies in their methodological inquiry into the issue of solipsism. Berkeley believes in the epistemological-perceptual method, whereas Wittgenstein considers the method of logico-linguistic analysis to understand the sense of the world and life in his early work Tractatus Logico- Philosophicus. Berkeley's philosophy of ‘subjective idealism’ is regarded as leading to the problem of the denial of the independent existence of anything beyond the knowing self or ‘I’. It is common knowledge that I exist in a world of various types of things and beings. This realistic position can hardly be denied by any philosophical doctrine. Similar is the case with Wittgenstein. His problem is more important than that of Berkeley. Wittgenstein deals with the problem concerning the relationship between language and the world. There is a sense in which Wittgenstein agrees with solipsism. One natural way of expressing the view of solipsism is to say “The world is my world.” In this sense, solipsism becomes the same as realism. In another sense, he disagrees with solipsism in so far as the whole of sayability centres on self, which is nowhere found in the world. So it is rather the philosophical self. This cannot be asserted to exist because there would be logical absurdity in doing so. Wittgenstein is right in saying that solipsism is correct in principle, but the difficulty with it is that it cannot be stated in language.
Open Access
Mysticism: wittgenstein and advaita vedanta
(University of North Bengal, 2022-03) Ghosh, Avijit
The main contention of this paper is to explain the concept of mysticism with special reference to Wittgenstein and Advaita Vedanta. Thus in a sense, it is a comparātive study in nature between Wittgenstein and Advaita Vedanta. The concept of mysticism is a tricky philosophical concept of which there we find different philosophical interpretations. Many would say that mysticism is a bogus philosophical issue and it has no point of justification in the realm of philosophy. Some others would say that mysticism is philosophically worthy and the meaning of life as well as the value of the world is actually associated with the mystical nature of thinking. Mysticism occupies significant philosophical areas both in Wittgenstein as well as in Advaita Vedanta. Therefore, a contrast and comparison between Wittgenstein and Advaita Vedanta is worthy in philosophy. Simultaneously, it would be a stupendous task to find the meeting point between Wittgenstein and Advaita Vedanta. Therefore, the task at hand is very challenging. In the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, Wittgenstein clearly asserts that what is mystical is inexpressible because it cannot be put into language. Accordingly, it can be said after Wittgenstein that what cannot be put into language would be treated as mystical. This does not make sense to say that p implies q entails q implies p. To make this point clear one has to know what does Wittgenstein actually mean. The term ‘language’ plays a vital role here. Wittgenstein had a different nature of language altogether. Here one has to understand language as ‘my language’. Having said if we go beyond ‘my language’, then, of course, p implies q may not entail q implies p. So there is no point of saying that the logical principle of Transposition is vitiated here. Accordingly, ethics, religion, aesthetics, and in short what lies outside ‘my language’ is mystical for Wittgenstein. In Advaita Vedanta, what is mystical is Brahman. Brahman is unqualified. The very nature of Brahman is sat-cit-ananda svarupa. It is not the quality of Brahman; rather it is the very nature of Brahman. The paper makes a conscious effort to find the meeting point based on mystical aspects of Wittgenstein and Advaita Vedanta.