Note on the Tractatus and Critical Philosophy

Abstract

This paper explores the influence of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason on the intellectual attitude that emerged in late 19th-century philosophy, which emphasized the centrality of analysis. Founders of this movement, such as Frege, Russell, and Moore, were familiar with Kant's work and considered it in their reflections, especially in opposition to British Hegelianism. Although the term "analysis" was later applied to this intellectual disposition, it arose in a neo-Kantian European context. One of the most influential works from early analytic philosophy, Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, is closely linked to Kant's critical philosophy, despite the unexpected background of its author, an eccentric and talented engineer. The extensive analytical literature since the 1960s has studied the connections between transcendental idealism and Wittgenstein’s reflections in the Tractatus and his later thoughts. This note provides a brief illustration of some observations linking the Tractatus with Kant's first Critique.