In Principio era l'azione. Forme di vita e linguaggio nell'opera di Ludwig Wittgenstein

The work aims at providing an analysis of the concept of «Forms of Life» (Lebensformen) in Wittgenstein’s philosophy and at highlighting its social and natural aspects. The first part revolves around the debate between the empirical and transcendental interpretations of this term as well as the introduction to the general issue of the naturalistic and / or cultural representation of forms of life. In the second part the research focuses on the clarification of the concept «Lebensform» making reference to the numerous texts in which it appears and illustrates how some semantically linked terms, such as «animality», «image of the world» and «perspicuous representation» play a significant role in highlighting the precarious and changing aspects which give shape to the human attitudes. The third part portraits the Wittgenstein’s concern with rules and following rules. With regard to their relations to life forms, attention is paid to the «institutionally natural» moments of the intersubjective agreement and disagreement originating the relationship between the individual and his own community. The purpose is to show that any form of life finds its origin not only in the conformist convergence of the conduct, but in the possibility of establishing moments of crisis and disruption.