[Wittrs] Re: Wittgenstein and "Brain Scripts"
- From: "SWM" <SWMirsky@xxxxxxx>
- To: wittrs@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:03:35 -0000
--- In Wittrs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Sean Wilson <whoooo26505@...> wrote:
>
> But if we had to name anything which is the life of the sign, we should have
> to say that it was its USE.â?? [BB, p. 4].Â
>
Is the above text (from the Blue Book) referencing the use aspect or the
saying? Here is why I'm asking:
On the face of it this reads as if it is actually supportive of a Behaviorist
interpretation, i.e., there is no meaning to be found in the brain or anywhere,
only the use, what we do with the signs and, perhaps, what the brain does that
underlies what we do (enabling us to effect a use). (Glen and Gerardo's
argument for mental phenomena as covert behavior?)
But another reading is possible, i.e., that while we realize that there is some
mental event going on, there is no way to say anything about it in any ordinary
way (not a something but not a nothing either!) so that, when we try, we end up
getting jumbled up in language mistakes.
The first reading seems to support Behaviorism. The second, while not
inconsistent with Behaviorism (which may cause Glen to rejoice), suggests that
we cannot hope to give a complete picture of such internal goings on anymore
than we can do so via an approach which looks for the essence of things, the
meanings of terms, in some supposed mental place.
In the second reading we focus on the possibilities of speaking clearly and
meaningfully about the phenomenon in question while the first reading seems to
lead us to be satisfied with simply replacing "meaning" with the more
behavioral term "use".
One of Wittgenstein's great insights, I think, was his recognition that
language is largely behavioral. But he does not, in his remarks, generally seem
to lose sight of the inner aspect of thinking and experiencing, even if he
often calls to our attention the inadequacies of certain fairly common attempts
to characterize this in language.
SWM
WEB VIEW: http://tinyurl.com/ku7ga4
TODAY: http://alturl.com/whcf
3 DAYS: http://alturl.com/d9vz
1 WEEK: http://alturl.com/yeza
GOOGLE: http://groups.google.com/group/Wittrs
YAHOO: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wittrs/
FREELIST: //www.freelists.org/archive/wittrs/09-2009
Other related posts:
