[lit-ideas] Re: The Life and Death of Wittgenstein
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 17 May 2009 08:23:37 EDT
In a message dated 5/16/2009 7:34:59 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
rpaul@xxxxxxxx writes:
"[...] 'Tell them I've had a wonderful life!' By 'them' he
undoubtedly meant his close friends."
---
Couple of points:
--- I love the "!", rarely reported (e.g. wiki).
--- performative status of 'tell'. Distinguish between:
"I've had a wonderful life!" (to Mrs Bevan)
"Tell them I've had a wonderful life!"
analysis of distinction:
it could be a _lie_. The content, "I've had a wonderful
life!", is no longer something he said (Grice: "Do not
say what you believe to be false"), but something that
belongs in an imperative -- I'm not taking "!" as
imperatival, but 'tell them'. It's not a lie to have Mrs
Bevan tell Wittenstein's close friends that he has
had a wonderful life!". By the time of the Philosophical
Investigations, he had distanced from the picture
theory of meaning: language is more a succession
of games in a form of life.
--- privileged access/incorrigibility. To pets with Wittgenstein,
"I've had a wonderful life!"
The "!" is not a mark of admiration or disgust, but emphatic
only. One wonders if Bevan reported it in print _sic_ with the
"!".
---- More importantly. What was Bevan to report. The final word
is ambiguous. A true obedience to the 'command' could be:
BEVAN: Is that Rush?
RHEES: Yes. [pause]. So it happened
BEVAN: Yes. Last night. He passed peaceful.
He's had a wonderful life!
I would argue that
BEVAN [to close friend]: He's had a _wonderful_ life!
is a good fulfillment of Wittgenstein's last wish.
-- GRAMMATICAL CORRECTION:
_Had_ he *wished* a different report, he should have said:
"Tell them that I said I had a wonderful life!"
which sounds too sanctimonious, and Wittgenstein would not like that. In
spite of all the unhappy hagiography behind the 'master'.
Cheers,
JLS
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