1.

Distinguish
Morality and Ethics

Morals are the ideals that guide one's decisions about what is good and wrong. Ethics are the guiding
principles of a person's or a group's behavior. The primary distinction between ethics and morality is
that ethics is more consistent, whereas morals is highly affected by society and religion.

https://pediaa.com/difference-between-ethics-and-morals/

PHILOPHERS

1. Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274)

Thomas Aquinas was a 13th century Dominican friar, theologian and

Doctor of the Church, born in what is known today as the Lazio region
of Italy. His most important contribution to Western thought is the
concept of natural theology (sometimes referred to as Thomism in
tribute to his influence). This belief system holds that the existence of
God is verified through reason and rational explanation, as opposed to
through scripture or religious experience. This ontological approach is
among the central premises underpinning modern Catholic philosophy
and liturgy. His writings, and Aquinas himself, are still considered
among the preeminent models for Catholic priesthood. His ideas also
remain central to theological debate, discourse, and modes of
worship.

Aquinas’ Big Ideas

 Adhered to the Platonic/Aristotelian principle of realism, which

holds that certain absolutes exist in the universe, including the
existence of the universe itself;
 Focused much of his work on reconciling Aristotelian and
Christian principles, but also expressed a doctrinal openness to
Jewish and Roman philosophers, all to the end of divining truth
wherever it could be found;
 The Second Vatican Council (1962–65) declared his Summa
Theolgoiae — a compendium of all the teachings of the Catholic
Church to that point — “Perennial Philosophy.”
Aquinas’ Key Works

 Summa Theologica  (1265–74)

 Thomas Aquinas: Selected Writings

2. Aristotle (384–322 BCE)

Aristotle is among the most important and influential thinkers and

teachers in human history, often considered — alongside his mentor,
Plato — to be a father of Western Philosophy.” Born in the northern
part of ancient Greece, his writings and ideas on metaphysics, ethics,
knowledge, and methodological inquiry are at the very root of human
thought. Most philosophers who followed — both those who echoed
and those who opposed his ideas — owed a direct debt to his wide-
ranging influence. Aristotle’s enormous impact was a consequence
both of the breadth of his writing and his personal reach during his
lifetime.

In addition to being a philosopher, Aristotle was also a scientist, which

led him to consider an enormous array of topics, and largely through
the view that all concepts and knowledge are ultimately based on
perception. A small sampling of topics covered in Aristotle’s writing
includes physics, biology, psychology, linguistics, logic, ethics,
rhetoric, politics, government, music, theatre, poetry, and
metaphysics. He was also in a unique position to prevail directly over
thinking throughout the known world, tutoring a young Alexander the
Great at the request of the future conqueror’s father, Phillip II of
Macedon. This position of influence gave Aristotle the means to
establish the library at Lyceum, where he produced hundreds of
writings on papyrus scrolls. And of course, it also gave him direct
sway over the mind of a man who would one day command an empire
stretching from Greece to northwestern India. The result was an
enormous sphere of influence for Aristotle’s ideas, one that only
began to be challenged by Renaissance thinkers nearly 2,000 years
later.

Aristotle’s Big Ideas

  Asserted the use of logic as a method of argument and offered
the basic methodological template for analytical discourse;
 Espoused the understanding that knowledge is built from the
study of things that happen in the world, and that some
knowledge is universal — a prevailing set of ideas throughout
Western Civilization thereafter;
 Defined metaphysics as “the knowledge of immaterial being,”
and used this framework to examine the relationship between
substance (a combination of matter and form) and essence, from
which he devises that man is comprised from a unity of the two.

Aristotle’s Key Works

 The Metaphysics
 Nicomachean Ethics
 Poetics

3. Confucius (551–479 BCE)

Chinese teacher, writer, and philosopher Confucius viewed himself as

a channel for the theological ideas and values of the imperial
dynasties that came before him. With an emphasis on family and
social harmony, Confucius advocated for a way of life that reflected a
spiritual and religious tradition, but which was also distinctly humanist
and even secularist. Confucius — thought to be a contemporary of
Taoist progenitor Lao-Tzu — had a profound impact on the
development of Eastern legal customs and the emergence of a
scholarly ruling class. Confucianism would engage in historic push-pull
with the philosophies of Buddhism and Taoism, experiencing ebbs
and flows in influence, its high points coming during the Han (206
BCE–220 CE), Tang (618–907 CE), and Song (960–1296 CE)
Dynasties. As Buddhism became the dominant spiritual force in China,
Confucianism declined in practice. However, it remains a foundational
philosophy underlying Asian and Chinese attitudes toward scholarly,
legal, and professional pursuits.

Confucius’ Big Ideas

  Developed a belief system focused on both personal and
governmental morality through qualities such as justice, sincerity,
and positive relationships with others;
 Advocated for the importance of strong family bonds, including
respect for the elder, veneration of one’s ancestors, and marital
loyalty;
 Believed in the value of achieving ethical harmony through
skilled judgment rather than knowledge of rules, denoting that
one should achieve morality through self-cultivation.

Confucius’ Key Works

 The Analects
 The Complete Confucius

4. René Descartes (1596–1650)

A French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist, Descartes was

born in France but spent 20 years of his life in the Dutch Republic. As
a member of the Dutch States Army, then as the Prince of Orange and
subsequently as Stadtholder (a position of national leadership in the
Dutch Republic), Descartes wielded considerable intellectual influence
over the period known as the Dutch Golden Age. He often
distinguished himself by refuting or attempting to undo the ideas of
those that came before him.

Descartes’ Big Ideas

 Discards belief in all things that are not absolutely certain,

emphasizing the understanding of that which can be known for
sure;
 Is recognized as the father of analytical geometry;
 Regarded as one of the leading influences in the Scientific
Revolution — a period of intense discovery, revelation, and
innovation that rippled through Europe between the Renaissance
and Enlightenment eras (roughly speaking, 15th to 18th
centuries).
Descartes’ Key Works

 Meditations on First Philosophy  (1641)

 Principles of Philosophy  (1644)
 The Passions of the Soul and Other Late Philosophical
Writings (1649)

5. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 82)

A Boston-born writer, philosopher, and poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson is

the father of the transcendentalist movement. This was a distinctly
American philosophical orientation that rejected the pressures
imposed by society, materialism, and organized religion in favor of the
ideals of individualism, freedom, and a personal emphasis on the
soul’s relationship with the surrounding natural world. Though not
explicitly a “naturalist” himself, Emerson’s ideals were taken up by this
20th century movement. He was also seen as a key figure in the
American romantic movement.

Emerson’s Big Ideas

 Wrote on the importance of subjects such as self-reliance,

experiential living, and the preeminence of the soul;
 Referred to “the infinitude of the private man” as his central
doctrine;
 Was a mentor and friend to fellow influential transcendentalist
Henry David Thoureau.

Emerson’s Key Works

 Nature and Other Essays  (1836)

 Essays: First and Second Series  (1841,1844)

6. Michel Foucault (1926-1984)

Historian, social theorist, and philosopher Michel Foucault, born in the

riverfront city of Poiltiers, France, dedicated much of his teaching and
writing to the examination of power and knowledge and their
connection to social control. Though often identified as a
postmodernist, Foucault preferred to think of himself as a critic of
modernity. His service as an international diplomat on behalf of
France also influenced his understanding of social constructs
throughout history and how they have served to enforce racial,
religious, and sexual inequality. His ideals have been particularly
embraced by progressive movements, and he allied with many during
his lifetime. Active in movements against racism, human rights
abuses, prisoner abuses, and marginalization of the mentally ill, he is
often cited as a major influence in movements for social justice,
human rights, and feminism. More broadly speaking, his examination
of power and social control has had a direct influence on the studies of
sociology, communications, and political science.

Foucault’s Big Ideas

 Held the conviction that the study of philosophy must begin

through a close and ongoing study of history;
 Demanded that social constructs be more closely examined for
hierarchical inequalities, as well as through an analysis of the
corresponding fields of knowledge supporting these unequal
structures;
 Believed oppressed humans are entitled to rights and they have
a duty to rise up against the abuse of power to protect these
rights.

Foucault’s Key Works

 The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human

Sciences (1966)
 The Archaeology of Knowledge: And the Discourse on
Language (1969)
 Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison  (1975)

7. David Hume (1711–77)

A Scottish-born historian, economist, and philosopher, Hume is often

grouped with thinkers such as John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, and Sir
Francis Bacon as part of a movement called British Empiricism. He
was focused on creating a “naturalistic science of man” that delves
into the psychological conditions defining human nature. In contrast to
rationalists such as Descartes, Hume was preoccupied with the way
that passions (as opposed to reason) govern human behavior. This,
Hume argued, predisposed human beings to knowledge founded not
on the existence of certain absolutes but on personal experience. As a
consequence of these ideas, Hume would be among the first major
thinkers to refute dogmatic religious and moral ideals in favor of a
more sentimentalist approach to human nature. His belief system
would help to inform the future movements of utilitarianism and logical
positivism, and would have a profound impact on scientific and
theological discourse thereafter.

Hume’s Big Ideas

 Articulated the “problem of induction,” suggesting we cannot

rationally justify our belief in causality, that our perception only
allows us to experience events that are typically conjoined, and
that causality cannot be empirically asserted as the connecting
force in that relationship;
 Assessed that human beings lack the capacity to achieve a true
conception of the self, that our conception is merely a “bundle of
sensations” that we connect to formulate the idea of the self;
 Hume argued against moral absolutes, instead positing that our
ethical behavior and treatment of others is compelled by
emotion, sentiment, and internal passions, that we are inclined to
positive behaviors by their likely desirable outcomes.

Hume’s Key Works

 A Treatise of Human Nature  (1739)

 An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals  (1751)
 The History Of England  (1754–62)

8. Immanuel Kant (1724–1804)

Prussian-born (and therefore identified as a German philosopher),

Kant is considered among the most essential figures in modern
philosophy, an advocate of reason as the source for morality, and a
thinker whose ideas continue to permeate ethical, epistemological,
and political debate. What perhaps most distinguishes Kant is his
innate desire to find a synthesis between rationalists like Descartes
and empiricists like Hume, to decipher a middle ground that defers to
human experience without descending into skepticism. To his own
way of thinking, Kant was pointing a way forward by resolving a
central philosophical impasse.

Kant’s Big Ideas

 Defined the “Categorical imperative,” the idea that there are

intrinsically good and moral ideas to which we all have a duty,
and that rational individuals will inherently find reason in
adhering to moral obligation;
 Argued that humanity can achieve a perpetual peace through
universal democracy and international cooperation;
 Asserted that the concepts of time and space, as well as cause
and effect, are essential to the human experience, and that our
understanding of the world is conveyed only by our senses and
not necessarily by the underlying (and likely unseen) causes of
the phenomena we observe.

Kant’s Key Works

 Critique of Pure Reason  (1781)

 Critique of Judgment  (1790)
 The Metaphysics of Morals  (1797)

9. Søren Kierkegaard (1813–55)

A Danish theologian, social critic, and philosopher, Kierkegaard is

viewed by many as the most important existentialist philosopher. His
work dealt largely with the idea of the single individual. His thinking
tended to prioritize concrete reality over abstract thought. Within this
construct, he viewed personal choice and commitment as preeminent.
This orientation played a major part in his theology as well. He
focused on the importance of the individual’s subjective relationship
with God, and his work addressed the themes of faith, Christian love,
and human emotion. Because Kierkegaard’s work was at first only
available in Danish, it was only after his work was translated that his
ideas proliferated widely throughout Western Europe. This
proliferation was a major force in helping existentialism take root in the
20th century.

Kierkegaard’s Big Ideas

 Explored the idea of objective vs. subjective truths, and argued

that theological assertions were inherently subjective and
arbitrary because they could not be verified or invalidated by
science;
 Was highly critical of the entanglement between State and
Church;

First described the concept of angst, defining it as a dread the

comes from anxieties over choice, freedom, and ambiguous
feelings.

Kierkegaard’s Key Works

 The Concept of Dread  (1844)

 Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments,
Volume 1 (1846)
 Practice in Christianity  (1850)

10. Lao-Tzu (also Laozi, lived between the 6th and 4th century BCE)

Historians differ on exactly when Lao-Tzu lived and taught, but it’s
largely held that some time between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE,
the “old master” founded philosophical Taoism. Viewed as a divine
figure in traditional Chinese religions, his ideas and writings would
form one of the major pillars (alongside Confucius and the Buddha) for
Eastern thought. Lao-Tzu espoused an ideal life lived through the Dao
or Tao (roughly translated as “the way”). As such, Taoism is equally
rooted in religion and philosophy. In traditional telling, though Lao-Tzu
never opened a formal school, he worked as an archivist for the royal
court of Zhou Dynasty. This gave him access to an extensive body of
writing and artifacts, which he synthesized into his own poetry and
prose. As a result of his writing, his influence spread widely during his
lifetime. In fact, one version of his biography implies he may well have
been a direct mentor to the Buddha (or, in some versions, was the
Buddha himself). There are lot of colorful narratives surrounding Lao-
Tzu, some of which are almost certainly myth. In fact, there are some
historians who even question whether or not Lao-Tzu was a real
person. Historical accounts differ on who he was, exactly when he
lived and which works he contributed to the canon of Taoism.
However, in most traditional tellings, Lao-Tzu was the living
embodiment of the philosophy known as Taoism and author of its
primary text, the Tao Te Ching.

Lao-Tzu’s Big Ideas

 Espoused awareness of the self through meditation;

 Disputed conventional wisdom as inherently biased, and urged
followers of the Tao to find natural balance between the body,
senses, and desires;
 Urged individuals to achieve a state of wu wei, freedom from
desire, an early staple tenet of Buddhist tradition thereafter.

Lao-Tzu’s Key Works

 Tao Te Ching

11. John Locke (1632–1704)

An English physicist and philosopher, John Locke was a prominent

thinker during the Enlightenment period. Part of the movement of
British Empiricism alongside fellow countrymen David Hume, Thomas
Hobbes, and Sir Francis Bacon, Locke is regarded as an important
contributor to the development of the social contract theory and is
sometimes identified as the father of liberalism. Indeed, his discourses
on identity, the self, and the impact of sensory experience would be
essential revelations to many Enlightenment thinkers and,
consequently, to real revolutionaries. His philosophy is said to have
figured prominently into the formulation of the Declaration of
Independence that initiated America’s war for independence from the
British.

Locke’s Big Ideas

 Coined the term tabula rasa (blank slate) to denote that the

human mind is born unformed, and that ideas and rules are only
enforced through experience thereafter;
 Established the method of introspection, focusing on one’s own
emotions and behaviors in search of a better understanding of
the self;
 Argued that in order to be true, something must be capable of
repeated testing, a view that girded his ideology with the intent of
scientific rigor.

Locke’s Key Works

 Two Treatises of Government  (1689)

 An Essay Concerning Human Understanding  (1690)
 Some Thoughts Concerning Education  (1693)

12. Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527)

Niccolo di Bernardo dei Machiavelli is at once among the most

influential and widely debated of history’s thinkers. A writer, public
office-holder, and philosopher of Renaissance Italy, Machiavelli both
participated in and wrote prominently on political matters, to the extent
that he has even been identified by some as the father of modern
political science. He is also seen as a proponent of deeply
questionable — some would argue downright evil — values and ideas.
Machiavelli was an empiricist who used experience and historical fact
to inform his beliefs, a disposition which allowed him to divorce politics
not just from theology but from morality as well. His most prominent
works described the parameters of effective rulership, in which he
seems to advocate for leadership by any means which retain power,
including deceit, murder, and oppression. While it is sometimes noted
in his defense that Machiavelli himself did not live according to these
principles, this “Machiavellian” philosophy is often seen as a template
for tyranny and dictatorship, even in the present day.

Machiavelli’s Big Ideas

 Famously asserted that while it would be best to be both loved

and feared, the two rarely coincide, and thus, greater security is
found in the latter;
 Identified as a “humanist,” and believed it necessary to establish
a new kind of state in defiance of law, tradition and particularly,
the political preeminence of the Church;
 Viewed ambition, competition and war as inevitable parts of
human nature, even seeming to embrace all of these tendencies.

Machiavelli’s Key Works

 Discourses on Livy  (1531)

 The Prince (1532)
 The Art Of War (1519–20)

13. Karl Marx (1818–83)

A German-born economist, political theorist, and philosopher, Karl

Marx wrote some of the most revolutionary philosophical content ever
produced. Indeed, so pertinent was his writing to the human condition
during his lifetime, he was exiled from his native country. This event
would, however, also make it possible for his most important ideas to
find a popular audience. Upon arriving in London, Marx took up work
with fellow German Friedrich Engels. Together, they devised an
assessment of class, society, and power dynamics that revealed deep
inequalities, and exposed the economic prerogatives for state-
sponsored violence, oppression, and war. Marx predicted that the
inequalities and violence inherent in capitalism would ultimately lead
to its collapse. From its ashes would rise a new socialist system, a
classless society where all participants (as opposed to just wealthy
private owners) have access to the means for production. What made
the Marxist system of thought so impactful though was its innate call
to action, couched in Marx’s advocacy for a working class revolution
aimed at overthrowing an unequal system. The philosophy underlying
Marxism, and his revolutionary fervor, would ripple throughout the
world, ultimately transforming entire spheres of thought in places like
Soviet Russia, Eastern Europe, and Red China. In many ways, Karl
Marx presided over a philosophical revolution that continues in the
present day in myriad forms of communism, socialism, socialized
democracy, and grassroots political organization.

Marx’s Big Ideas

 Advocated a view called historical materialism, arguing for the

demystification of thought and idealism in favor of closer
acknowledgement of the physical and material actions shaping
the world;
 Argued that societies develop through class struggle, and that
this would ultimately lead to the dismantling of capitalism;
 Characterized capitalism as a production system in which there
are inherent conflicts of interest between the bourgeoisie (the
ruling class), and the proletariat (the working class), and that
these conflicts are couched in the idea that the latter must sell
their labor to the former for wages that offer no stake in
production.

Marx’s Key Works

 Critique of Hegel’s “Philosophy Of Right”  (1843)

 The Communist Manifesto (1848)
 Capital: Volume 1: A Critique of Political Economy  (1867)

14. John Stuart Mill (1806–73)

British economist, public servant, and philosopher John Stuart Mill is

considered a linchpin of modern social and political theory. He
contributed a critical body of work to the school of thought called
liberalism, an ideology founding on the extension of individual liberties
and economic freedoms. As such, Mill himself advocated strongly for
the preserving of individual rights and called for limitations to the
power and authority of the state over the individual. Mill was also a
proponent of utilitarianism, which holds that the best action is one that
maximizes utility, or stated more simply, one that provide the greatest
benefit to all. This and other ideas found in Mill’s works have been
essential to providing rhetorical basis for social justice, anti-poverty,
and human rights movements. For his own part, as a member of
Parliament, Mill became the first office-holding Briton to advocate for
the right of women to vote.

Mill’s Big Ideas

 Advocated strongly for the human right of free speech, and

asserted that free discourse is necessary for social and
intellectual progress;
 Determined that most of history can be understood as a struggle
between liberty and authority, and that limits must be placed on
rulership such that it reflects society’s wishes;
 Stated the need for a system of “constitutional checks” on state
authority as a way of protecting political liberties.

Mill’s Key Works

 On Liberty and the Subjection of Women  (1859, 1869)

 Utilitarianism  (1861)

15. Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)

Friedrich Nietzsche was a poet, cultural critic, and philosopher, as well

as possessor of among the most gifted minds in human history. The
German thinker’s system of ideas would have a profound impact on
the Western World, contributing deeply to intellectual discourse both
during and after his life. Writing on an enormous breadth of subjects,
from history, religion and science to art, culture and the tragedies of
Greek and Roman Antiquity, Nietzsche wrote with savage wit and a
love of irony. He used these forces to pen deconstructive
examinations of truth, Christian morality, and the impact of social
constructs on our formulation of moral values. Also essential to
Nietzshe’s writing is articulation of the crisis of nihilism, the basic idea
that all things lack meaning, including life itself. This idea in particular
would remain an important component of the existentialist and
surrealist movements that followed.

Nietzsche’s Big Ideas

 Favored perspectivism, which held that truth is not objective but

is the consequence of various factors effecting individual
perspective;
 Articulated ethical dilemma as a tension between the master vs.
slave morality; the former in which we make decisions based on
the assessment of consequences, and the latter in which we
make decisions based on our conception of good vs. evil;
 Believed in the individual’s creative capacity to resist social
norms and cultural convention in order to live according to a
greater set of virtues.

Nietzsche’s Key Works

 The Birth of Tragedy  (1872)

 The Gay Science  (1882)
 On the Genealogy of Morals and Ecce Homo  (1887, 1908)

16. Plato (428/427?–348/347? BCE)

Greek philosopher and teacher Plato did nothing less than found the
first institution of higher learning in the Western World, establishing
the Academy of Athens and cementing his own status as the most
important figure in the development of western philosophical tradition.
As the pupil of Socrates and the mentor to Aristotle, Plato is the
connecting figure in what might be termed the great triumvirate of
Greek thought in both philosophy and science. A quote by British
philosopher Alfred North Whitehead sums up the enormity of his
influence, noting “the safest general characterization of the European
philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to
Plato.” Indeed, it could be argued that Plato founded political
philosophy, introducing both the dialectic and dialogic forms of writing
as ways to explore various areas of thought. (Often, in his dialogues,
he employed his mentor Socrates as the vessel for his own thoughts
and ideas.) While he was not the first individual to partake of the
activity of philosophy, he was perhaps the first to truly define what it
meant, to articulate its purpose, and to reveal how it could be applied
with scientific rigor. This orientation provided a newly concreted
framework for considering questions of ethics, politics, knowledge,
and theology. Such is to say that it is nearly impossible to sum up the
impact of Plato’s ideas on science, ethics, mathematics, or the
evolution of thought itself other than to say it has been total,
permeating, and inexorable from the tradition of rigorous thinking
itself.

Plato’s Big Ideas

 Expressed the view, often referred to as Platonism, that those

whose beliefs are limited only to perception are failing to achieve
a higher level of perception, one available only to those who can
see beyond the material world;
 Articulated the theory of forms, the belief that the material world
is an apparent and constantly changing world but that another,
invisible world provides unchanging causality for all that we do
see;
 Held the foundational epistemological view of “justified true
belief,” that for one to know that a proposition is true, one must
have justification for the relevant true proposition.

Plato’s Key Works

 The Republic  (380 BCE)

 The Laws  (348 BCE)
 Plato: Complete Works

19. Socrates (470–399 BCE)

A necessary inclusion by virtue of his role as, essentially, the founder

of Western Philosophy, Socrates is nonetheless unique among
entrants on this list for having produced no written works reflecting his
key ideas or principles. Thus, the body of his thoughts and ideas is left
to be deciphered through the works of his two most prominent
students, Plato and Xenophon, as well as to the legions of historians
and critics who have written on him since. The classical Greek thinker
is best known through Plato’s dialogues, which reveal a key
contributor to the fields of ethics and education. And because
Socrates is best known as a teacher of thought and insight, it is
perhaps appropriate that his most widely recognized contribution is a
way of approaching education that remains fundamentally relevant
even today. The so-called Socratic Method, which involves the use of
of questioning and discourse to promote open dialogue on complex
topics and to lead pupils to their own insights, is on particular display
in the Platonic dialogues. His inquisitive approach also positioned him
as a central social and moral critic of the Athenian leadership, which
ultimately led to his trial and execution for corrupting the minds of
young Athenians.

Socrates’ Big Ideas

 Argued that Athenians were wrong-headed in their emphasis on

families, careers, and politics at the expense of the welfare of
their souls;
 Is sometimes attributed the statement “I know that I know
nothing,” to denote an awareness of his ignorance, and in
general, the limitations of human knowledge;
 Believed misdeeds were a consequence of ignorance, that those
who engaged in nonvirtuous behavior did so because they didn’t
know any better.

Socrates’ Key Works

 Early Socratic Dialogues

20. Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)

Born in Austria to a wealthy family, Wittgenstein is one of philosophy’s

more colorful and unusual characters. He lived a life of eccentricity
and professional nomadism, dabbling in academia, military service,
education, and even as a hospital orderly. Moreover, during his life, he
wrote voluminously but published only a single manuscript. And yet,
he was recognized by his contemporaries as a genius. The
posthumous publication of his many volumes confirmed this view for
future generations, ultimately rendering Wittgenstein a towering figure
in the areas of logic, semantics, and the philosophy of mind. His
investigations of linguistics and psychology would prove particularly
revelatory, offering a distinctive window through which to newly
understand the nature of meaning and the limits of human conception.

Wittgenstein’s Big Ideas

 Argued that conceptual confusion about language is the basis for

most intellectual tension in philosophy;
 Asserted that the meaning of words presupposes our
understanding of that meaning, and that our particular
assignment of meaning comes from the cultural and social
constructs surrounding us;
 Resolved that because thought is inextricably tied to language,
and because language is socially constructed, we have no real
inner-space for the realization of our thoughts, which is to say
that the language of our thoughts renders our thoughts inherently
socially constructed.

Wittgenstein’s Key Works

 Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus  (1921)

 Philosophical Investigations  (1953)
 On Certainty  (1969)