[lit-ideas] Re: The Life and Death of Wittgenstein

In a message dated 5/16/2009 7:34:59 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
rpaul@xxxxxxxx writes:
"[...] 'Tell them I've had a wonderful life!' By  'them' he 
undoubtedly meant his close friends." 

---
 
Couple of points:
 
--- I love the "!", rarely reported (e.g. wiki).
 
--- performative status of 'tell'. Distinguish between:
 
           "I've had a  wonderful life!"  (to Mrs Bevan)
           "Tell them  I've had a wonderful life!"
 
         analysis of  distinction:
 
         it could be a _lie_. The  content, "I've had a wonderful
         life!", is no longer  something he said (Grice: "Do not
         say what you believe to be  false"), but something that
         belongs in an imperative  -- I'm not taking "!" as 
         imperatival, but 'tell  them'. It's not a lie to have Mrs
         Bevan tell Wittenstein's  close friends that he has
         had a wonderful life!". By  the time of the Philosophical
         Investigations, he  had distanced from the picture 
         theory of meaning:  language is more a succession
         of games in a form of  life.
 
--- privileged access/incorrigibility. To pets with Wittgenstein,
 
               "I've had a wonderful life!"  
 
     The "!" is not a mark of admiration or  disgust, but emphatic
     only. One wonders if Bevan reported it in print  _sic_ with the
     "!".
 
---- More importantly. What was Bevan to report. The final word
     is ambiguous. A true obedience to the 'command'  could be:
 
               BEVAN: Is that Rush?
               RHEES:   Yes.   [pause].   So it happened
               BEVAN: Yes. Last night. He passed peaceful.
                    He's had a wonderful life!
 
I would argue that 
 
               BEVAN [to close friend]: He's had a _wonderful_ life!
 
is a good fulfillment of Wittgenstein's last wish.
 
-- GRAMMATICAL CORRECTION:
 
   _Had_ he *wished* a different report, he should have  said:
 
    "Tell them that I said I had a wonderful life!"
 
which sounds too sanctimonious, and Wittgenstein would not like that. In  
spite of all the unhappy hagiography behind the 'master'.
 
Cheers,
 
JLS
 
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