A.J.肯尼把维特根斯坦称作“20世纪最重要的思想家”。G.H.冯·赖特认为他是“我们这个时代最伟大和最有影响的哲学家之一”。J.N.芬德雷虽然反对维特根斯坦的观点,但也把他说成是一位“有重大影响和独创见解的思想家……思想深奥……才华横溢”。类似的说法在论述维特根斯坦的文献中比比皆是。 任何一个人读到这类高度评价,自然都会以为维特根斯坦是20世纪哲学中最具影响力的人物。实际并非如此。为说明这一点,最简便的办法就是指出:在维特根斯坦生前和死后,除了他的少数学生所做的工作外,哲学界的大部分活动恰恰是维特根斯坦著作所贬斥的东西,也就是说,哲学家进行系统研究的正是那些他所说的在人们充分注意语言之后就会消失的“哲学问题”。事实上近年来大多数当代分析哲学家根本不同意这种主张。实践表明,他们完全没有接受维特根斯坦的看法。弗雷格和罗素的哲学遗产对他们所起的作用超过了他的影响。因为其中一个理由就是他们仍然属于维特根斯坦力图否定的哲学传统主流。这对了解维特根斯坦在当代哲学中所占的地位是件重要的事情,因为我们在前面各章已经看到,他对哲学传统的否定就表现在他对该传统所指定和界定的哲学问题的否定上。除了他自己的学生, A.J. Kenny called Wittgenstein “the most important thinker in the 20th century.” G.H. von Wright considered him “one of the greatest and most influential philosophers of our time.” J.N. Findlay, though opposed to Wittgenstein’s point of view, also described him as a “thinker with profound influence and original ideas ... deep in thought ... brilliant.” A similar argument abounds in Wittgenstein’s literature. Anyone who reads such a high degree of evaluation will naturally think that Wittgenstein is the most influential figure in 20th century philosophy. This is not the case. To illustrate this point, it is easiest to point out that most of the activities of the philosophical world, except before Wittgenstein’s death and after his death, were precisely what the Wittgensteinan works denounced That is, what philosophers do systematically is what they call the “philosophical problems” that disappear after they have paid sufficient attention to the language. In fact, most contemporary analytic philosophers in fact do not agree with this claim at all. Practice shows that they totally did not accept Wittgenstein’s view. The influence of the philosophical legacy of Frege and Russell on them outweighed his influence. For one of the reasons is that they still belong to the mainstream of the philosophical tradition that Wittgenstein tries hard to negate. This is an important matter for understanding Wittgenstein’s position in contemporary philosophy, as we have seen in previous chapters that his negation of the philosophical tradition manifests itself in the philosophical problems that he has assigned and defined to the tradition Negative on. In addition to his own students,