Responses to Wittgenstein’s philosophy by those working in the Marxist tradition have been varied, ranging from outright rejection, which characterized the early responses, to the embracing of it, which became the norm for later thinkers. What lies behind this dialectic of repulsion and attraction and which of the two responses is the more valid? In order to ascertain this I first analyze the early critical responses, arguing that they fall short in their appreciation of in particular Wittgenstein’s later philosophy. I then go on to employ the concept of language ideology to unpack the respective underlying epistemological and ontological commitments of Wittgenstein’s later philosophy and that of the later Marxian thinkers attracted to it, arguing that here the sources for the latter’s affinities for the former can be found and that these are legitimate and merit expansion.

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hdl.handle.net/1765/78313
Erasmus Student Journal of Philosophy (ESJP)
Erasmus Student Journal of Philosophy
Erasmus School of Philosophy

Talachian, S. (2015). The Late Wittgenstein and Marxian Thought. Erasmus Student Journal of Philosophy, 5(1), 7–21. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1765/78313