Wittgensteinian anti-scientism in the Tractatus logico-philosophicus The importance of the important in early Wittgenstein

Abstract

My aim in this article is very simple indeed, namely to show that Wittgenstein’s Tractatus, despite its early neo-positivist reception, and despite the fact that the book found shelter under the long shadow of the logicist program, which was as good an example of scientism in philosophy as any can be, is written in an anti-scientism spirit. Secondly, I will try to show that the relevance this may have for a better understanding of Wittgenstein –both in his early and mature periods– is that it allows us to highlight the importance that for him had what each one of us take to be important, be it in philosophy or in our everyday life.