[lit-ideas] Re: Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
- From: adriano paolo shaul gershom palma <palmaadriano@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2013 20:14:07 +0200
SPERANZA cut the number of joints per day
On Sun, Feb 17, 2013 at 8:12 PM, <Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> The very title, as translated
>
> Traduttore, traditori
>
> In a message dated 2/17/2013 10:48:34 A.M. UTC-02,
> donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx notes that there is a difference between
> Russell's suggestion,
>
> "Philosophical Logic"
>
> and
>
> Moore's suggestion, "A Treatise on Philosophical Logic".
>
> McEvoy suggests a book, mutatis mutandis, called
>
> "God"
>
> gives the implicature (only implicature, never logical implication or
> entailment) that the author believes that "God" is not a vacuous name (vide
> Grice, "Vacuous Names").
>
> On the other hand, this implicature, McEvoy goes on, is cancelled by the
> prefacing with
>
> "A Treatise on God".
>
> ---
>
> McEvoy's words: -- we are referring to
>
> "a title that is a "Treatise" or Tractatus on them."
>
> "For his "Treatise" suggests we cannot say anything about these fields,
> though we can show or exhibit what is "the truth" as to them: and so to
> refer
> to "Philosophical Logic" simpliciter "is wrong" as it wrongly suggests we
> can say something about "Philosophical logic" - whereas, because of the
> "limits of language", we can only offer a treatise on that subject-matter
> that
> shows the character of that subject-matter but without saying anything
> about it."
>
> Still, to press the analogy. I would go back to Spinoza
>
> Tractatus theologico-politicus
>
> A Treatise on Theology and Politics
>
> The implicature seems to be that such things exist. For the opposite
> implicature surely there are prepositions available in the rich Latin
> language:
>
> Tractatus AGAINST Theological Politics
>
> say.
>
> What bothers me slightly is that Witters can think he CAN say that he knows
> what the 'ideal' is (for he thinks that "TLP" ain't it), and has a hoard
> of British brilliant men:
>
> Ogden
> Lord Russell
> Prof. Moore
>
> to think for a diggestible way for British readers to make of this booklet
> he published in 1921 in some obscure publishing house with the pretty
> rudimentary title
>
> "Logisch-Philosophische Abhandlung".
>
> For those of us who know German, we should notice the distinction between
>
> "Logisch"
>
> and
>
> "Philosophische"
>
> i.e. the fact that "Logisch" pre-affixes to "Philosophische" amounts to the
> drop of the 'e' (it would be "Logische").
>
> This construction possibly gave Moore the bell-ringing. It started to ring
> a bell with Moore, and compared the
>
> "Logische-philosophische"
>
> with the
>
> "theologico-politicus"
>
> of Spinoza -- and the rest is history.
>
> "Abhandlung" could never have placed Cicero or a classicist. It's more like
> a MANIPULATION (handling).
>
> Imagine a treatise against God which comes up in an obscure publishing
> house as
>
> "A Manipulation of God".
>
> or
>
> "A manipulation of theological politics"
>
> ---- So there may be something derogatory in "Abhandlung" that "Tractatus"
> does not retain. For "Tractatus" is a bit basic.
>
> McEvoy:
>
> "his "Treatise" suggests we cannot say anything about these fields, though
> we can show or exhibit what is "the truth" as to them: and so to refer to
> "Philosophical Logic" simpliciter "is wrong" as it wrongly suggests we can
> say something about "Philosophical logic" - whereas, because of the
> "limits
> of language", we can only offer a treatise on that subject-matter that
> shows the character of that subject-matter but without saying anything
> about
> it."
>
> It may do to compare other books called "Tractatus". It seems that if the
> negative bias towards the subject matter is a point of interest, a
> proposition like "contra" should be used.
>
> I disagree with McEvoy's representation of Witters's meaning of 'nonsense'
> in the letter:
>
> "this suggestion may be corroborated by the parenthetical remark that ends
> the quotation re "nonsense" - for this question of "nonsense" is to be
> understood in terms of the distinction between showing and saying."
>
> Recall this is a private correspondence, alla
>
> Dear Jenny,
> I love you.
> Ludwig.
>
> -----
>
> So, I think the idea is that Witters is communicating to his correspondent
> that he thought of Lord Russell as BEING RUDE when offering such a silly
> title, "Philosophical Logic" (totally ignoring the 'handling' of these
> matters). And he continues with this bitter humour by justifying Russell's
> rudeness, alla: "After all, he must think my whole book is NONSENSE, as
> it isn't,
> so no wonder he suggested a nonsensical title to go with it."
>
> I often think that the ideal title for Geary's novel is "UNTITLED".
>
> While McEvoy is right that this may be just semantics, I think
>
> "Tractatus philosophico-logicus"
>
> is more correct, by virtue of the content of the book it is supposed to
> name, than the current
>
> "Tractatus logico-philosophicus".
>
> Cfr. the scandal Spinoza would have provoked had he decided to get his
> thing published as
>
> "Tractatus politico-theologicus"
>
> with philosophers wondering if SUCH a thing could be said to exist (as it
> doesn't).
>
> Seeing that "Tractatus", qua word, has a prestigious classical Latin
> history, it may do to compare it with synonymous expressions in Greek,
> since it
> was the GREEKS who were the masters in the art of discoursing pro and
> contra
> things (Sextus Empiricus, etc.).
>
> Cheers,
>
> Speranza
>
> M. Geary:
>
> "My doctor said that I could either die or quit drinking. No decision
> yet. I mean, like, drinking is the only thing I'm good at. But then I do
> want to see if I finish my novel before I die."
>
>
>
>
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--
palma, KZN
*יד* וַיַּעַן עָמוֹס, וַיֹּאמֶר אֶל-אֲמַצְיָה, לֹא-נָבִיא אָנֹכִי, וְלֹא
בֶן-נָבִיא אָנֹכִי: כִּי-בוֹקֵר אָנֹכִי, וּבוֹלֵס שִׁקְמִים.
palma
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