Philosophy and psychoanalysis: Wittgenstein, on “language-games” and ethics

Abstract

In this chapter, I propose to take seriously the comparison between Freudian psychoanalysis and Wittgenstein’s conception of philosophy. Philosophy and psychoanalysis have in common two facts: they are activities that have to do with the analysis of language, and they have an ethical goal. Both, in fact, mean to liberate the human body, and to make it able to move freely. The fundamental concept that allows this comparison is that of “surveyable representation” (übersichtliche Darstellung). From this point of view, the main concern of Wittgensteinian philosophy is ethics.