[Wittrs] Logical Positivist meets Wittgensteinian (dialog)
- From: kirby urner <kirby.urner@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: wittrsamr@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2011 18:37:35 -0700
Logical Positivist:
"If I'm supposed to *believe* the stories of jungle spirits,
then I will become annoyed, because I don't believe in
ghosts and don't want to stoop to trafficking in childish
ghost stories. I don't believe in Santa Claus either."
Wittgensteinian:
"Don't think of it as believing, but as learning a secret
code and becoming an insider. You'll find these stories
contain many reminders of what plants are safe to eat,
versus which that are poisonous, so if you devote some
bandwidth to stories of jungle spirits, you might well
live longer."
Logical Positivist:
"Hmmmm, when you put it that way, I see your point.
So maybe those silly stories about the deities I've
read in other books might be codes as well. Indeed,
I recall someone saying they might contain navigation
information, given all the astronomic content (or
"cosmic" content as some say).
Wittgensteinian:
"Hey, you're a quick learner. The meaning of a lot
of this lore is the utility which it imparts, which is why
these 'primitives' vest so much time in it. They're not
just 'idle bed time stories' (though if you listen to bed
time stories, you'll realize many of them aren't 'idle'
either)."
Logical Positivist:
"So are you an anthropologist then?"
Wittgensteinian:
"Yes."
-- Kirby
Other related posts:
- » [Wittrs] Logical Positivist meets Wittgensteinian (dialog) - kirby urner
