Wittgenstein and the Law: On Language, Mind and Law

“Wittgenstein and the Law: On Language, Mind and Law” explores the relationship between language, mind, and law through the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein. The book starts with a brief sketch of the history of philosophy of language to reconstruct a linguist paradigm. It then traces the emergence of the modern philosophy of language and its culmination in the Linguistic Turn. Against this background, the book analyses both the early and late philosophy of Wittgenstein. It examines the shift from the logical analysis of ideal language in the “Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus” to the grammatical investigation of ordinary language in the “Philosophical Investigations”. It further tries to illuminate how Wittgenstein’s reflections on language, mind, and meaning connect to ethics and law. Finally, the book examines the critical potential of Wittgenstein’s thought for legal philosophy: His methodological contribution, the possibility of moral objectivity, and the prospect of normative universality. Bridging philosophy of language and legal theory, the book invites the reader to reconsider how legal meaning, understanding, and normativity are constituted in and through language.