Cautivos de imágenes. Un ejemplo de filosofía terapéutica

Abstract

In this work, we begin by explaining why the term Bild, when we consider Wittgenstein’s later work, should be translated as «image». Through this analysis, we can achieve an optimum perspective to understand the method Wittgenstein used in his Philosophical Investigations: after all, the first step of this method consists just in locating those images that hinder our understanding. Since these images are embedded in our language, it is difficult to locate them, so they usually go unnoticed. This explains why these images have and had a lot of influence not only on the man in the street, but also on many important philosophical systems. The analysis of some images –above all, the image of the Inner which led to Wittgenstein’s remarks on the possibility of a private language– will show us that these images are deep-rooted in our language and, by extension, in ourselves. That is why we find so hard to abandon them, although the analysis of the images in question shows that, if we abandoned them, they would not hold our understanding captive any more.