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Start date: 2020Subject: search.filters.subject.Language

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    Wittgenstein on Aesthetics: The Silent Language of Beauty
    (University of North Bengal, 2025) Banerjee, Moumita; Dhar, Tripti
    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.
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    Wittgenstein’s Counter-explanatory take on Religion
    (University of North Bengal, 2025) Jha, Purbayan
    If we try to understand any philosophy of religion in Ludwig Wittgenstein’s writings we may not find one, still his remarks on religious beliefs and languages draw some interesting points that could tempt us to look at religions and religious practices with an open ended perspective. Wittgenstein’s Remarks on Frazer’s Golden Bough is an example of his approach against explanation of religious beliefs and rituals. Wittgenstein thinks that the explanation of killing the priest-king in order to keep his soul as fresh does not add any significant value to the religious discourses. Any kind of metaphysical thematization in this regard is better to get rid of, as far as Wittgenstein’s views are concerned. Rather he takes an anthropological approach to religion and its practices, where the practices are intertwined with his notions of language-games and forms of life. D.Z. Phillips addresses the fact that in Wittgenstein’s earlier writings on Frazer we find that there could be a principle in the language by which all the rituals could be ordered, but later on as Rush Rhees points out, it has been found that the imagination of ritual implies it imagining in a form of life. Our urge for explanation often takes us to a juggernaut from where it becomes so much difficult to return and have peace. I will be trying to show how clarity in the Wittgensteinian sense could help us better to comprehend the value of religion and have impact over our religious discourse. Rituals in religion can’t be based on evidences, like what is done in science. Religion is based on faith. If there is loss of faith in God, then it need not be based on rational justification rather a shift in the form of life where the older language might seem meaningless to the concerned person.
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    Babus and the Social Body in Conceptual Proposition in Early Colonial Bengal
    (University of North Bengal, 2020-03) Roy, Varun Kumar
    Edward Said maintains: “Knowledge of the Orient because generated out of strength, in a sense, creates the Orient, the Oriental and his world” (Said 1978: 40). The emergence of the Babus brought new changes in the social atmosphere of early colonial Bengal. The elite, wealthy, western educated Bengalis began imitating western culture and were very much eager to forge a new social class, which would align them with the Britishers. This research paper tries to revisit existing literature in conjunction with historical texts to understand the formation of the Babu identity and how this was mirrored in the new social body that had come into existence.