[Wittrs] Wittgenstein, Philosophy and Intellectual Independence
- From: Sean Wilson <whoooo26505@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "wittrsamr@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <wittrsamr@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 8 May 2011 22:04:06 -0700 (PDT)
... a few quotes. There are treasure troves of these, but I don't have time
right now to fish out more.
=================================
1. (The philosopher is not a citizen of any community of ideas. That is what
makes him into a philosopher.) Zettel 455.
2. [I] feel myself to be an alien in the world ... If you have no ties to
either mankind or to God, then you ARE an alien. MS135, 7/28/1947
3. On Cambridge: "Everything about the place repels me. The stiffness, the
artificiality, the self-satisfaction of the people. The university atmosphere
nauseates me." M.S. 132, 9/30/1946
4. Wittgenstein railed against professional philosophers, mourned the state of
philosophy in England and asked, " What can one man do alone?"... When [told of
the next philosophy conference], he said, "Very well, to me it is just as if
you had told me that there will be bubonic plague in Cambridge next summer. I
am very glad to know and I shall make sure to be in London." (And so he was).
(Monk 487)
4. Ryle thought that Wittgenstein gave the impression that "he himself was
proud not to have studied other philosophers -- which he had done, though not
much -- and second, that he thought that people who did study them were
academic and therefore unauthentic philosophers."
To a certain extent Ryle is writing here as an Oxford man ..., but what he says
about Wittgenstein's attitude to3wards reading the great works of the past is
perfectly true. As little philosophy as I have read," Wittgenstein wrote, "I
have certainly not read too little, RATHER TOO MUCH. I see that whenever I read
a philosophical book: it doesn't improve my thoughts at all, it makes them
worse." (Monk, 495-496)
5. Monk: Wittgenstein's hostility towards professional philosophy and his
dislike of Cambridge remained constant throughout his academic career .. . [484]
6. Monk: He dreaded going back to Cambridge to resume his professional duties,
and implored Malcolm to come to England soon, "before I make up my mind to
resign the absurd job of a prof of philosophy. It is a kind of living death."
(483)
7. Wittgenstein's advice to his friends and students to leave academia was
based on his conviction that its atmosphere was to rarefied to sustain proper
life. There is no oxygen in Cambridge, he told Drury. [344]
8. "philosophical analysis does not tell us anything new about thought (and if
it did it would not interest us." Lectures, 1930-32, p. 35.
9. George Kreisel, a mathematician and former student of Wittgenstein in 1944,
said upon reflecting upon his career in mathematical logic, a field
Wittgenstein hated:
"This is largely based on a personal reaction. I believe that early contact
with Wittgenstein's outlook has hindered rather than helped me to establish a
fruitful perspective on philosophy as a discipline in its own right" (Monk,
498-499).
10. Upon visiting Oxford to give a lecture, certain "dons" did not like
Wittgenstein's heresy. Monk writes,
"In his reply Wood's paper, Wittgenstein ignored altogether the question of
whether Descartes' argument was valid, and concentrated instead on brining his
own philosophical method to bear on the problem raised. ...
Wittgenstein: " If a man says to me, looking at the sky, "I think it wiill
rain, therefore I eixt," I do not understand him."
Pritchard: " That's all very fine; whgat we want to know is: is the cogito
valid or not? ..."
Pritchard ... several times interrupted Wittgenstein in an effort to get him to
address the question of whether Descartes' cogito was a valid inference or not.
And every time he did so, Wittgenstein avoided the question,l implying that it
was unimportant. ... Wittgenstein's ahistorical, existential method of
philosophizing could, in the context of respect for the great philosophers
engendered at Oxford, readily be taken for arrogance. Monk 496-497
11. On whether philosophers could be ideological: Monk: his duties as a loyal
party member would be incompatible with this duties as a philosopher. "In
doing philosophy," he insisted, "you have got to be ready constantly to change
the direction in which you are moving, and if you are thinking as a philosopher
you cannot treat the ideas of Communism differently from others." (486-487)
Regards and thanks.
Dr. Sean Wilson, Esq.
Assistant Professor
Wright State University
Personal Website: http://seanwilson.org
SSRN papers: http://tinyurl.com/3eatnrx
Wittgenstein
Discussion: http://seanwilson.org/wiki/doku.php?id=wittrs ;
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