Grammar and Ontology

Abstract

Wittgenstein characterizes his investigations as ‘grammatical’ and emphasizes their difference from factual or empirical investigations. In particular, he claims, philosophical confusion arises when we regard philosophical questions as questions of fact. Wittgenstein’s emphasis on keeping distinct grammatical and factual investigations echoes Heidegger’s emphasis on what he calls the ‘ontological difference’, namely the distinction between ontic investigations of beings and ontological investigations of being. For both philosophers, keeping their investigations distinct from factual investigations means that they understand themselves not to be discovering and expressing novel truths but to be retrieving and clarifying an understanding that we already have. And for both of them, this retrieval calls for a careful examination of our everyday practices.