Witti-Buch2 2001.qxd - Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein Society

Remko van der Geest
Boltzmann's writings. The example of the theory of heat that Wittgenstein in the
Notebooks gives for his net metaphor, can only be accounted by considering
Boltzmann's views of mechanics. Besides that I have pointed out similarities between
Wittgenstein's and Boltzmann's thought that give us a deeper understanding of the
Tractarian philosophy of science.
References
Black M. (1964), A Companion to Wittgenstein's 'Tractatus'. Ithaka, N.Y.: Cornell
University Press, 1964)
Boltzmann, L. (1905), Populäre Schriften. Leipzig: J.A. Barth.
Boltzmann, L. (1974), Theoretical Physics and Philosophical Problems. Edited by
Brian McGuinness. Dordrecht and Boston: D. Reidel Publishing Company.
Hertz H. (1956), The Principles of Mechanics, transl. D.E. Jones and J.T. Walley. New
York: Dover Publications.
McGuinness B. (1979), "Wittgenstein's 'Intellectual Nursery-Training'", in Hal Berghel
et al. (eds.), Wittgenstein, Der Wiener Kreis und Der Kritische Rationalismus.
Vienna: Holder-Pichler-Tempsky.
McGuinness B. (1988), Wittgenstein: A Life. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Nedo M. and Ranchetti M. (eds.) (1983), Ludwig Wittgenstein: Sein Leben in Bildern
und Texten. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
Wilson A.D. (1989), "Hertz, Boltzmann and Wittgenstein Reconsidered", in Stud. Hist.
Phil. Sci. 20(2): pp. 245-263
Wittgenstein, L. (1979), Notebooks 1914-1916. Oxford: Blackwell, Second edition.
Endnote
1 A characteristic example for my theory of the significance of descriptions in physics:
The two theories of heat; heat conceived at one time as a stuff, at another time as
a movement.
2 The campaign into the territory of heat theory was opened by mechanics with the
idea that heat is a motion of the smallest particles of a body; remaining invisible
because they are so small, but making itself felt by provoking the sensation of heat
when it is imparted to the molecules of our body, or of cold when it is withdrawn.
This campaign was victorious because the hypothesis described furnishes a very
clear picture of the agency called heat, much more completely so than the earlier
view of it as behaving like a substance. (Boltzmann 1974, 132)
3 Only Max Black states the example in his Companion (Black 1964, 353). However,
he does not offer any clarification.
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