Wittgenstein on Aesthetics: The Silent Language of Beauty

Abstract

This paper examines Ludwig Wittgenstein's contributions to the philosophy of aesthetics, charting the development of his ideas from his early work, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (TLP), to his later text, Philosophical Investigations (PI). Wittgenstein’s aesthetic philosophy is marked by a shift from a more formal, structured perspective in TLP to a pragmatic, context-dependent understanding in PI. In TLP, Wittgenstein’s early philosophy of language suggests that aesthetic experiences and judgments fall within the realm of the ineffable, belonging to what cannot be said but only shown. Aesthetic values, like ethical and metaphysical truths, are outside the limits of language that can describe facts, leading to the idea that aesthetics, though deeply meaningful, transcends propositional language. In his later work, Wittgenstein moves away from the notion of a rigid logical structure and adopts the idea of "language games," highlighting the importance of context, usage, and the varied nature of language in influencing aesthetic understanding. Aesthetic judgments are seen as interwoven with particular forms of life, and Wittgenstein introduces the notion of "family resemblance" to account for the fluid, non-essentialist way we speak about beauty, art, and taste. Here, the focus shifts from trying to define aesthetics in abstract terms to analyzing how we talk about and engage with aesthetic experiences in everyday life. This inquiry examines both periods of Wittgenstein’s thought, comparing his early mystical conception of aesthetics with his later pragmatic approach. The paper contends that Wittgenstein's later work provides a more adaptable and socially rooted approach to interpreting aesthetic discourse. In this paper includes an introduction part, then section one to section four we’ve discussed various aspects of Aesthetic view of Wittgensein’s philosophy.