[C] [Wittrs] How to Regard On Certainty
- From: Sean Wilson <whoooo26505@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: wittrsamr@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 26 Jan 2010 12:38:05 -0800 (PST)
... One of the things that I had never paid attention to was how On Certainty
was different in the way it was produced, compared to other Wittgenstein
creations. Of critical note is that OC is not a typescript (or even a
manuscript). It's fresh from the notebooks. One assumes that Wittgenstein would
have gone through those remarks and added to, excised, crossed out, changed
words, snipped and amended many of them. In the process of generating
manuscripts or typescripts, there would have been more material added and
plenty excised. (Not that it would be any more clear!). And so I wonder: should
more caution be taken when reading OC compared to the reading of a typescript
work?
There is another line of argument that I am quite hesitant to make, because it
offends me, but I suppose should be raised. I wonder if the hormone therapy he
was under would have in any way affected his faculties? (I think not for
several reasons). Of course, it is true that Wittgenstein himself had noted
differences in his mind as he became much older and remarked that his insights
were dimming. Monk notes that OC seems to lack the powerful and brilliant
similes (to the same extent) found in earlier work. But still, one cannot
dispute the fact that the machinery is still functioning quite well in OC, down
to the very last utterance. So I think the more important question is what
value those remarks have in light of the fact that they did not go through the
manuscript-typescript work process that they surely would have gone through,
had Wittgenstein lived another 3 to 5 years of reasonable health.
Knowing this, I think the book should have been published with a bit of a
warning: "these remarks have not yet gone through the Wittgenstein editing
process." At least with the typescripts, you had something akin to a playoff
team that survived one of the rounds. (With Wittgenstein, you'll never have a
Superbowl champ. Playoff team is all you can ever have. But with OC, don't we
have a team that hasn't even completed the regular season?)
Regards.
Dr. Sean Wilson, Esq.
Assistant Professor
Wright State University
Personal Website: http://seanwilson.org
SSRN papers: http://ssrn.com/author=596860
Discussion Group: http://seanwilson.org/wittgenstein.discussion.html
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