On Certainty

Part of a series on
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Early Philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein
Picture theory of language Truth tables · Truth conditions Truth functions · States of affairs Logical necessity
Later Philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein
Meaning is use · Language-games Private language argument Family resemblance · Rule following Forms of life · Grammar Anti-skepticism Wittgenstein's philosophy of mathematics
Movements
Analytic philosophy · Linguistic turn Ideal language philosophy Logical atomism · Logical positivism Ordinary language philosophy Wittgensteinian fideism · Quietism
Works
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus Some Remarks on Logical Form Blue and Brown Books · Philosophical Remarks Philosophical Investigations On Certainty · Culture and Value Remarks on Frazer's Golden Bough Remarks on the Foundations of Mathematics Zettel · Remarks on Colour Lectures and Conversations on Aesthetics, Psychology, and Religious Belief
People
Bertrand Russell · G.E. Moore John Maynard Keynes · Paul Engelmann Friedrich Waismann · Moritz Schlick Rudolf Carnap · Francis Skinner Frank Ramsey · Vienna Circle G.E.M. Anscombe · Norman Malcolm Rush Rhees · Peter Winch Peter Geach · G.H. von Wright
Interpreters
Barry Stroud · Cora Diamond Peter Hacker · Terry Eagleton Stephen Toulmin · Saul Kripke Anthony Kenny · Crispin Wright Warren Goldfarb · James F. Conant Gordon Baker · Stanley Cavell D.Z. Phillips · Colin McGinn Jaakko Hintikka · Oswald Hanfling A.C. Grayling · Rupert Read
Other
Apostles · Moral Sciences Club Stonborough House
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On Certainty (Über Gewißheit) is a philosophical book composed from the notes written by Ludwig Wittgenstein just prior to his death. Some of the notes were left at the home of G. E. M. Anscombe, who later compiled the notes into a book.

The book's concerns are largely epistemological, its main theme being that there are some things which must be exempt from doubt in order for human practices to be possible (i.e. 'doubt' being a practice as well). The book takes as its starting point the 'here is a hand' argument made by G. E. Moore and examines the place of claims to know in our knowledge.

Another important point is his claim that all doubt is embedded into underlying beliefs and therefore that the most radical forms of doubt must be rejected since they form a contradiction within the system that expressed them. Wittgenstein also provides a novel refutation of various forms of philosophical skepticism. The book was published posthumously in 1969 from notebooks written in the last two years of his life.

See also

• "Here is a hand"
• Philosophical Investigations
• Philosophical skepticism

External links

• On Certainty - translation by Denis Paul and G. E. M. Anscombe