Russell and Wittgenstein's Tractatus: The Forgotten Debt

Abstract

The author argues that Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus owes much to Russell's early philosophy. This point of view is demonstrated in the article by referring to G. Landini's recent research on Russell's Substitution Theory, as well as by the evaluations of the Tractatus of the prominent researchers: L. Goldstein, J. Hintikka, and J. Hacking. A skeptical view on the influence of the Tractatus and Wittgenstein personally on the doctrines of the Vienna Circle is presented by A. Koffa. The author proposes to reject extreme judgments about the Tractatus outside the context of Principia Mathematica.