Philosophy and psychoanalysis

Wittgenstein, on "language-games" and ethics

Felice Cimatti

pp. 233-250

in: Alessandro Capone, Jacob L. Mey (eds), Interdisciplinary studies in pragmatics, culture and society, Berlin, Springer, 2016

Abstract

In this chapter, I propose to take seriously the comparison between Freudian psychoanalysis and Wittgenstein's conception of philosophy. Philosophy and psychoanalysis have in common two facts: they are activities that have to do with the analysis of language, and they have an ethical goal. Both, in fact, mean to liberate the human body, and to make it able to move freely. The fundamental concept that allows this comparison is that of 'surveyable representation" (übersichtliche Darstellung). From this point of view, the main concern of Wittgensteinian philosophy is ethics.

Cited authors

Wittgenstein Ludwig

Freud Sigmund