[lit-ideas] Wittgenstein's Kite
- From: "" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> (Redacted sender "Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx" for DMARC)
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 13 May 2014 18:16:34 -0400 (EDT)
My last post today!
In a message dated 5/13/2014 3:00:24 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
rpaul@xxxxxxxx writes:
Wittgenstein had no degree of any kind from Manchester. He got his PhD
from Cambridge, in 1929. He submitted the Tractatus as his dissertation. His
examiners were Russell and G.E.Moore. The story of the proceedings is
well-known, and Moore's report to the Cambridge authorities is a classic...
Indeed.
Apparently, though, he did intend to pursue a doctorate earlier in
Manchester on ... kites. Or rather, he behaved in such a way that he gave
Wikipedia a reason to report, years later, at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Wittgenstein
that
"[Witters] arrived at the Victoria University of Manchester in the
spring of 1908 to do his doctorate,"
-- full of plans for aeronautical projects, including designing and flying
his own plane.
Witters goes on to conduct (some sort of (as Wikipedia thinks,
erroneously, PhD-related) research into the behaviour of kites in the upper
atmosphere, experimenting at the Kite Flying Upper Atmosphere Station, not far
from
Glossop.
While a student at the Victoria University (named, incidentally, after
Queen Victoria), Witters also works on the design of a propeller with small
jet engines on the end of its blades. This he will later patent in 1911 and
will earn him a research studentship from the Victoria University in the
autumn of 1908.
While working at the Kite Flying Upper Atmosphere Station, Witters lived
at "The Grouse [not Grice] Inn", a pub on the Derbyshire moors, which
impressed him -- the Derbyshire moors.
The name of the Inn, 'Grouse' is said to be derived, like, incidentally,
he surname 'Grice', from the Anglo-Norman "griais", and is thus cognate with
"grey" -- and ultimately, according to Brunetto Latini, with 'Greece':
Latini's reason: "porce que ele fu premiers trovee en Grece." On top of that,
it is entertaining to find that the Oxford Dictionary spends some time
evaluating the hypothesis that "grouse" was thought for a time to be the
singular form of the alleged plural, "grice".
In May 17 1908, Witters wrote to his sister from the Grouse [not Grice]
Inn, exulting the glorious isolation. He added in a ps: "Yesterday, I began
to build my own kite." He failed to specify (alla Grice, "be as informative
as is required") what colour it was.
The Wikipedia reference to the doctorate may be indeed vague and
erroneous. Apparently, no formal course of study was organised, nor was a
supervisor
privoded to oversee the research, which looks like a blessing to some
students, who then feel 'entitled'.
It was not expected, apparently, that Witters would work for a degree --
and so Russell's later reference to 'the Austrian engineer' should best be
regarded as a hyperbole (as a figure of speech).
It was understood, rather, that Witters would pursue his own line of
research. Witters designed (with the ulterior intention of later constructing)
a
full aircraft engine Plans of his proposed engine survive, and show that
Witters's idea was to rotate the propeller by means of high-speed gases
rushing from a combustion chamber. The idea was perhaps flawed, or rather,
impractical -- On the other hand, all his later philosophical ideas were, by
contrast, _practical_.
Witters's idea was however, indepedently and successfully adopted, during
the Second World War, in the design of some helicopters (which fly 'like
kites'*, or using the same principle that 'kites' use when flying. Here
Witters is referring to the _bird_ 'kite'.
(Elanus caeruleus, Desfontaines, 1789).
Surprising the faculty and students at Victoria, Witters had a combustion
chamber built especially for him by a local firm. He was so happy when he
received it that he immediately sent a telegram to his sister ("I received
the combustion chamber today." -- all his correspondence with his sister
survives in German. G. E. M. Anscombe was going to translate it to English,
but Geach saw that 'perhaps it [wasn't] philosophical enough", implicating,
"for you to waste your time _there_").
While in Manchester, Witters would often attend the concerts given by the
Hallé orchestra, which amused him.
During his second year at 'the Victoria'' (as he referred to the
institution), Witters concentrated on the DESIGN of a propeller. His work on
this
was taken sufficiently seriously by the university for him to be elected to a
research studentship, and he went on to patent the thing as "Improvements
on Propellers applicable to Aerial Machines" (Nov. 22 1910). On June 21
1911 Witters indeed left a complete specification, and the patent was accepted
on Aug. 17 1911.
Now, while natural kites (Elanus caeruleus) allegedly evolve to display an
ability to fly, natural men (homo sapiens) haven't. The reason is
Darwinian.
Cheers,
Speranza
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