[lit-ideas] Re: (Was: Wittgenstein)
- From: "Phil Enns" <phil.enns@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 21:00:34 -0500
Robert Paul wrote:
"There is no reason to think that Wittgenstein would have rejected 'This
sentence is short,' or 'This sentence is in English,' as being
self-referential, although I have no texts less than ten feet from where
I'm sitting which I could cite to that effect."
I don't have Wittgenstein's _Lectures on the Foundations of Mathematics_
but the following is from _Remarks on the Philosophy of Psychology_ vol
1.
"'I can no more see the rabbit and the duck at the same time than I can
mean the words 'Weiche Wotan, weiche!' in their two meanings.'* - But
that would not be right; what is right is that it is not natural for us
to pronounce these words in order to tell Wotan he should depart, and in
saying so to tell him that we prefer our eggs soft boiled. And yet it
would be possible to imagine such a use of words." §77
*The reference is to the opera singer who had to sing 'Weiche, Wotan,
weiche' ("Depart Wotan, depart") and to whom the other singer on the
stage had just whispered 'Do you like your eggs soft (weiche) or hard?'
[Editor's note]
I wonder how natural it is to read the 'this' of 'This sentence is
short' as a deictic with an implied antecedent and in reading it so to
fix the antecedent as being the very sentence one is reading. It isn't
that one can't do it, but that the contexts in which one could produce
such a reading would be highly unusual. This then raises the question
as to whether it is the sentence itself which is self-referential or
whether the context sets up the paradox of self-referentiality. Take,
for example, the rabbit/duck example. In a section just before the
above quote, Wittgenstein puts the image in the context of a cartoon and
claims that it is not possible for the rabbit to be taken for a duck.
(§76) That is, the image would be oriented in such a manner that it
would look like the rabbit. However, if the image were simply on an
otherwise blank piece of paper, one might see either the rabbit or the
duck. It seems to me that in order to have 'This sentence is short'
appear to be self-referential it must likewise operate without a
specific context. Furthermore, like the rabbit/duck example, the 'this'
cannot be taken, at the same time, to be a deictic within a sentence,
thereby implying an antecedent, and part of the antecedent.
I wanted to make a point about Wittgenstein and whether it even makes
sense to talk about being self-referential but I am not feeling well, my
head is thick, and so the above, for whatever it is worth, is the best I
can do. Perhaps if this thread continues a few more days, I might give
it a try.
Sincerely,
Phil Enns
Toronto, ON
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