[C] [Wittrs] Re: Wittgenstein and Theories
- From: Sean Wilson <whoooo26505@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: wittrsamr@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:49:43 -0800 (PST)
(J)
... a couple of thoughts.
1. Regarding what I was troubled over, I said it in the last message that came
contemporaneously with yours. It was post-modern scholars who claim to descend
from Wittgenstein and who try to bastardize conceptualism or rigor in
contemplation. Sometimes Wittgenstein is named as an heir here, something I
think would cause him to roll over in his grave.
2. One way out of the apparent conundrum is by appealing to family resemblance
(as you did when you considered senses of theories). As such, a "thesis not to
present theses" may not be a contradiction if it is really only thesis-like,
and if thesis-like statements are themselves ok in the craft defined by the
statement. Precisely foreclosed is the idea of defining thesis from
thesis-like, and defending the proposition. For that would be BEHAVING wrongly.
It would, in short, be the presentation of a thesis.
Rather, the only proper way to BEHAVE is to show examples and illustrations of
uses belonging to one activity versus another. So what is revealed by something
thesis-like is a different sort of method of validation (showing), which,
because it does validate, retains family resemblance with the other sort of
behavior.
3. Let's say you present yourself solely for the purposes of showing a new
craft. Each student comes before you with a false set of problems. Each with
the wrong activity. Each with an entanglement of language. And what you do is
show, through therapy, the confusions. And so what you are doing, in effect, is
untying knots. And this is what "philosophy" comes then to be: a craft master
who both shows the student that the knot exists and who talks the student
through the practice of untying it. And as the student leaves, he or she now
has the experience of searching for other knots or for knowing ways of
preventing them in the first place (false problems).
Liberated as it were, it is then written for all to see: "never form thesis,
for they cause knots." Only one who has knots would then say, "that's a
contradiction." It would be like a bumper sticker that said, "stop using bumper
stickers." One could say of the such a sticker, "you idiot!" But, you know, if
it ended up getting the message out ... what's a girl to do??!!
Regards.
Dr. Sean Wilson, Esq.
Assistant Professor
Wright State University
Personal Website: http://seanwilson.org
SSRN papers: http://ssrn.com/author=596860
Discussion Group: http://seanwilson.org/wittgenstein.discussion.html
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