[lit-ideas] Re: Wittgenstein's Kite
- From: Omar Kusturica <omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 15 May 2014 00:45:01 +0200
It seems that Donal is going into lingiustic philosophy as well. May God
have mercy on his soul.
O:K.
On Wed, May 14, 2014 at 8:01 AM, Donal McEvoy <donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:
>
> >On top of that, it is entertaining to find that the Oxford Dictionary
> spends some time
> evaluating the hypothesis that "grouse" was thought for a time to be the
> singular form of the alleged plural, "grice". >
>
> No, it's not. It's not. It's really not.*
>
> D
> *This construction may be an example, btw, of one that shows its sense -
> and where it would miss that sense to interpret it merely as a set of
> "otiose" repetitions. (We may say the sense it shows is, in part, one
> where writing imitates a common aspect of speech, where speech sometimes
> shows this kind of repetitious emphasis.)
> On Tuesday, 13 May 2014, 23:17, "dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <
> dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> My last post today!
>
> In a message dated 5/13/2014 3:00:24 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> rpaul@xxxxxxxx writes:
> Wittgenstein had no degree of any kind from Manchester. He got his PhD
> from Cambridge, in 1929. He submitted the Tractatus as his dissertation.
> His
> examiners were Russell and G.E.Moore. The story of the proceedings is
> well-known, and Moore's report to the Cambridge authorities is a
> classic...
>
> Indeed.
>
> Apparently, though, he did intend to pursue a doctorate earlier in
> Manchester on ... kites. Or rather, he behaved in such a way that he gave
> Wikipedia a reason to report, years later, at:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Wittgenstein
>
> that
>
> "[Witters] arrived at the Victoria University of Manchester in the
> spring of 1908 to do his doctorate,"
>
> -- full of plans for aeronautical projects, including designing and
> flying
> his own plane.
>
> Witters goes on to conduct (some sort of (as Wikipedia thinks,
> erroneously, PhD-related) research into the behaviour of kites in the
> upper
> atmosphere, experimenting at the Kite Flying Upper Atmosphere Station,
> not far from
> Glossop.
>
> While a student at the Victoria University (named, incidentally, after
> Queen Victoria), Witters also works on the design of a propeller with
> small
> jet engines on the end of its blades. This he will later patent in 1911
> and
> will earn him a research studentship from the Victoria University in the
> autumn of 1908.
>
> While working at the Kite Flying Upper Atmosphere Station, Witters lived
> at "The Grouse [not Grice] Inn", a pub on the Derbyshire moors, which
> impressed him -- the Derbyshire moors.
>
> The name of the Inn, 'Grouse' is said to be derived, like, incidentally,
> he surname 'Grice', from the Anglo-Norman "griais", and is thus cognate
> with
> "grey" -- and ultimately, according to Brunetto Latini, with 'Greece':
> Latini's reason: "porce que ele fu premiers trovee en Grece." On top of
> that,
> it is entertaining to find that the Oxford Dictionary spends some time
> evaluating the hypothesis that "grouse" was thought for a time to be the
> singular form of the alleged plural, "grice".
>
> In May 17 1908, Witters wrote to his sister from the Grouse [not Grice]
> Inn, exulting the glorious isolation. He added in a ps: "Yesterday, I
> began
> to build my own kite." He failed to specify (alla Grice, "be as
> informative
> as is required") what colour it was.
>
> The Wikipedia reference to the doctorate may be indeed vague and
> erroneous. Apparently, no formal course of study was organised, nor was a
> supervisor
> privoded to oversee the research, which looks like a blessing to some
> students, who then feel 'entitled'.
>
> It was not expected, apparently, that Witters would work for a degree --
> and so Russell's later reference to 'the Austrian engineer' should best
> be
> regarded as a hyperbole (as a figure of speech).
>
> It was understood, rather, that Witters would pursue his own line of
> research. Witters designed (with the ulterior intention of later
> constructing) a
> full aircraft engine Plans of his proposed engine survive, and show that
> Witters's idea was to rotate the propeller by means of high-speed gases
> rushing from a combustion chamber. The idea was perhaps flawed, or
> rather,
> impractical -- On the other hand, all his later philosophical ideas
> were, by
> contrast, _practical_.
>
> Witters's idea was however, indepedently and successfully adopted, during
> the Second World War, in the design of some helicopters (which fly 'like
> kites'*, or using the same principle that 'kites' use when flying. Here
> Witters is referring to the _bird_ 'kite'.
> (Elanus caeruleus, Desfontaines, 1789).
>
> Surprising the faculty and students at Victoria, Witters had a combustion
> chamber built especially for him by a local firm. He was so happy when he
> received it that he immediately sent a telegram to his sister ("I
> received
> the combustion chamber today." -- all his correspondence with his sister
> survives in German. G. E. M. Anscombe was going to translate it to
> English,
> but Geach saw that 'perhaps it [wasn't] philosophical enough",
> implicating,
> "for you to waste your time _there_").
>
> While in Manchester, Witters would often attend the concerts given by the
> Hallé orchestra, which amused him.
>
> During his second year at 'the Victoria'' (as he referred to the
> institution), Witters concentrated on the DESIGN of a propeller. His work
> on this
> was taken sufficiently seriously by the university for him to be elected
> to a
> research studentship, and he went on to patent the thing as "Improvements
> on Propellers applicable to Aerial Machines" (Nov. 22 1910). On June 21
> 1911 Witters indeed left a complete specification, and the patent was
> accepted
> on Aug. 17 1911.
>
> Now, while natural kites (Elanus caeruleus) allegedly evolve to display
> an
> ability to fly, natural men (homo sapiens) haven't. The reason is
> Darwinian.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Speranza
>
>
>
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