[lit-ideas] Wittgenstein's Punch Line
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2014 06:19:11 -0500 (EST)
In a message dated 2/19/2014 3:49:20 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx writes in Re: Wittgenstein's Humour
while there is nothing playful about the Tractatus, there is something
playful (or possibly playful) in aspects of Investigations.
However, we seem to have a bit of a punch line:
"My propositions are elucidatory in this way: he who understands me finally
recognizes them as senseless, when he has climbed out through them, on
them, over them. (He must so to speak throw away the ladder, after he has
climbed up on it.) (6.54)"
R. Paul quotes from N. Malcolm -- and thanks for O. K. for his examples,
which can be seen as punch lines by Witters to implicated pieces of
philosophical reasoning --:
"A curious thing, which I observed innumerable times, was that when
Wittgenstein invented an example during his lectures in order to illustrate a
point, he himself would grin at the absurdity of what he had imagined. But if
any member of the class were to chuckle, his expression would change to
severity and he would exclaim in reproof, ‘No, no; I’m serious!’"
McEvoy elsewhere refers to 'authorial intent', which is a keyword, since,
with Beardsley, and Grice, I would not count a joke as an implicature.
Implicature and thus most 'authorial intents' are reason-based, not
cause-based,
and one does not need a _reason_ to be amused; only a cause.
Note the Moore-type ("It is raining, but I don't believe it") in Malcolm's
punchline:
"No, no [Nanette]; I'm serious"
YET I grin.
Or not.
C. Bruce referred to a 'hint of a smile', which is yet not quite a
Cheshire-cat sort of grin, NOR a more or less sonorous chuckle.
Or not.
Cheers,
Speranza
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