Category: Wittgenstein
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Wittgenstein and Butchvarov on the Self
This entry supplements the earlier entry on what Wittgenstein in the Tractatus calls the metaphysical subject. (5.633) Wittgenstein As I read him, Wittgenstein accepts Hume's famous rejection of the self as an object of experience or as a part of the world. "There is no such thing as the subject that thinks or entertains ideas."…
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The Metaphysical Subject :Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus 5.63
I take Wittgenstein to be saying at 5.63 that the seeing eye is not in the visual field. I can of course see my eyes via a mirror. But these are seen eyes, not seeing eyes. The eyes I see in the mirror are objects of visual consciousness; they are not what do the…
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“He Who Hesitates is Lost”
As you know, Yogi Berra, master of the malapropism, died in September. In the Berra spirit, I cooked up the following during last night's troubled sleep: Said by me to Berra in the presence of Peter: He who hesitates is lost. Berra: You mean Peter? What is Berra failing to understand? (I would continue with…
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Happy Super π Day!
π day is 3/14. But today is super π day: 3/14/15. To celebrate it properly you must do so at 9:26 A.M. or P. M. Years ago, as a student of electrical engineering, I memorized π this far out: 3.14159. The decimal expansion is non-terminating. But that is not what makes it an irrational number. …
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Is Gardeners’ Question Time Racist?
"An academic claims the Radio 4 programme’s regular discussions on soil purity and non-native species promote racial stereotypes." More proof of the willful stupidity of liberals and the alacrity with which they play the race card. (HT: London Karl) Gardening puts me in mind of spades, as in Wittgenstein's remark, "My spade is turned." Did…
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Death Limits Our Immorality: Death as the Muse of Morality
How much more immoral we would be if we didn't have to die! Two thoughts. 1. Death sobers us and conduces to reflection on how we are living and how we ought to live. We fear the judgment that may come, and not primarily that of history or that of our circle of acquaintances. We…
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If Everyone Goes Straight to Heaven . . .
. . . then heaven is a joke, and so is this life, and there is no ultimate justice, hence no God. Mobster Frank Calabrese Sr. has died in prison. Good riddance. I read the book by his son, Frank Jr. and came away impressed by him for courageously 'ratting out' his father: family loyalty…
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On Translating ‘Some Individual Exists’ Fressellianly
An astute reader comments: You write: 2. But can this presupposition be expressed (said) in this logic? Here is a little challenge for you Fressellians: translate 'Something exists' into standard logical notion. You will discover that it cannot be done. Briefly, if existence is instantiation, which property is it whose instantiation is the existence of…
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Wittgenstein and Rejectionism
I characterized Rejectionism with respect to the question why there is anything at all as follows: "The rejectionist rejects the question as ill-formed, as senseless." London Ed suggests that Wittgenstein may be lumped in with the rejectionists. He has a point, though I do insist on the distinction between taking 'Why is there anything at…
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Good Friday Meditation: Wittgenstein on Christianity
From Culture and Value, p. 32e, tr. Peter Winch: Christianity is not based on a historical truth; rather, it offers us a (historical) narrative and says: now believe! But not, believe this narrative with the belief that is appropriate to a historical narrative, rather: believe, through thick and thin, which you can do only as…
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Saying and Showing
Again, show what? 'There are objects' is nonsense. One cannot say that there are objects. This is shown by the use of variables. But what is shown if not that there are objects? There, I've said it! Ray Monk reports on a discussion between Wittgenstein and Russell. L. W. balked at Russell's 'There are at least…
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The Inexpressible
The Tractarian Wittgenstein says that there is the Inexpressible. But what is inexpressible? Presumably, if there is the Inexpressible then there must be a quid answering to the est. Could there be truths that cannot be expressed? A truth is a true truth-bearer, a true sentence, proposition, judgment, statement, assertion, belief, asseveration, belief, claim, etc. But…
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Wittgenstein on Darwin
One thing I definitely applaud in Wittgenstein is his opposition to scientism. M. O'C. Drury in Conversations with Wittgenstein, ed. Rush Rhees (Oxford, 1984), pp. 160-161: One day, walking in the Zoological Gardens, we admired the immense variety of flowers, shrubs, trees, and the similar multiplicity of birds, reptiles, animals. WITTGENSTEIN: I have…