Ideal language philosophy is contrasted withordinary language philosophy. From about 1910 to 1930, analytic philosophers likeBertrand Russell andLudwig Wittgenstein emphasized creating an ideal language for philosophical analysis, which would be free from the ambiguities ofnatural language that, in their opinion, often made for philosophical error. During this phase, Russell and Wittgenstein sought to understand language (and hence philosophical problems) by usingformal logic to formalize the way in which philosophicalstatements are made. Wittgenstein developed a comprehensive system oflogical atomism in hisTractatus Logico-Philosophicus (German:Logisch-Philosophische Abhandlung, 1921). He thereby argued that the universe is the totality of facts and not things: actual states of affairs and that these states of affairs can be expressed by the language offirst-order predicate logic. Thus apicture of the universe can be construed by means of expressingatomic facts in the form ofatomic propositions, and linking them usinglogical operators.
 | Thisphilosophy-related article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |