Book,
Wittgenstein's Lectures on the Foundations of Mathematics, Cambridge, 1939
University Of Chicago Press, Chicago, (October 1989)characterizes mathematical propositions: - Do not have a temporal sense (pp. 34). - Are rules of expression. "the connection between a mathematical proposition and its application is roughly that between a rule of expression and the expression itself in use" (pp. 47). A rule of expression defines what is meaningful and what not, how a particular form should be used, etc. - Is invented to suit experience and then made independent of experience (pp. 43). "In mathematics we have propositions which contain the same symbols as, for example, "write down the integral of..", etc., with the difference that when we have a mathemaitical proposition time doesn't enter into it and in the other it does. Now this is not a metaphisical statement." (pp 34).
Abstract
From his return to Cambridge in 1929 to his death in 1951, Wittgenstein influenced philosophy almost exclusively through teaching and discussion. These lecture notes indicate what he considered to be salient features of his thinking in this period of his life.
