Philosophical Problems are Problems of the Point: Reading Wittgenstein's Central Concepts

April 21, 2025

There are various types of "tone-deaf" people in this world. People who are tone-deaf to sports, to taste, to economics... and there are also those who are "art-deaf," unable to properly appreciate works such as poetry, novels, paintings, films, or music. Art-deaf people do not know where to focus or what to pay attention to in a work—in other words, they do not know how they need to "see" it as a whole. They cannot see what should be physically visible to them.

There is a useful word to describe the situation these art-deaf people find themselves in. That is the "point" (Witz; point) mentioned in the title of this book.

It is the same "point" as when we say, "The point here is..." or "I don't see the point of the argument." In English, understanding or not understanding something is expressed as "getting" or "missing the point." It can be said that art-deaf people miss the point of a work and fail to understand it.

The protagonist of this book, Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951), placed great importance on this concept of the "point." The title of this book is taken from a passage in his posthumous manuscripts.

He criticized the way philosophers use words (critique of language) and sought to "dissolve" rather than "solve" philosophical problems. According to Wittgenstein, philosophers could be described as "word-deaf." His activity was to help such tone-deaf people see the original use of words clearly. This would be similar to, for example, telling someone who fails to understand a musical work, "Try listening to it this way," or "Compare this phrase with that one." There is likely no single method, and what constitutes effective advice depends on the individual. There is no guarantee of success.

In this book, I have attempted to reconstruct his entire philosophy as an activity of teaching the "point" of our use of language. I would be pleased if this book manages to depict, even slightly, a form of "critique" that is different from simply proving the other person's mistake.

Philosophical Problems are Problems of the Point: Reading Wittgenstein's Central Concepts

Yuki Tanida

Seidosha

264 pages, 2,640 yen (tax included)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time of publication.