[C] [Wittrs] Re: How to Regard On Certainty
- From: Sean Wilson <whoooo26505@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: wittrsamr@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:24:14 -0800 (PST)
Stuart:
Just a couple of quick remarks regarding the quote below my signature:
1. OC doesn't END. He doesn't "complete it." (I would argue that none of his
post-Tractarian philosophy really has an "ending"). Had he not died, there
surely would have been remarks numbered 677 and onward. And there surely would
have been a typescript that threw out many of the remarks and added many new
ones.
2. Also, I would be careful assuming that mere intention to work hard in the
face of finality is something that exalts philosophic value. It sounds more
suitable for things like dying declarations (confessions, changing the will,
getting the record straight). In other words, had he written on his deathbed
"the 10 things I want to clear up about how my work is perceived," we might be
inclined to give "work-plus-death" some capital. But as it stands, all that OC
is, is an elder Wittgenstein at work on a different language game -- one
started by Moore (and one that W wanted to leave significant remarks about).
3. I think, also, one should be careful about how the ability to philosophize
existed in Wittgenstein. He could not simply sit down and do it. He had to be
in the right mood, setting, etc. It is quite plausible to assume that had his
health changed miraculously and had his mood and surroundings changed, that he
would have found the forced daily labor of churning out his thoughts to have
resulted in unfortunate or feigned remarks here and there. Maybe more of the
powerful similes that we see in other works (that Monk notes are absent)
might have re-appeared. One could even reasonably wonder whether the fact
that such regular writing was occurring was evidence that the rare energies
that came in bursts and thrusts were NOT the things producing the near-daily
remarks -- and that a subdued Wittgenstein worked within lights more dim, but
stable, throughout the month and a half.
Anyway, my point here is not in any way to diminish OC. All I am doing is
making sure that people understand its historical context and are not under the
illusion that: (a) the work is finished; or (b) that the conditions of his
writing in March/April made his remarks more philosophically worthy than other
thoughts he chased in his notebooks.
Regards and thanks.
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
Stuart: "As you note, he wrote it while ill and completed it, literally on his
deathbed. He knew he wouldn't have a chance to revise. He knew he was writing
it for those he would be leaving behind. Aside from the fact that we can see
it's rich with insight and so tight in form, we can be reasonably comfortable
that he was doing his best work under the circumstances. Perhaps his medication
undermined him to some degree. Perhaps his failing health did as well. Still,
he took the trouble to scribble away while dying to get these thoughts down. I
think the provenance of On Certainty is testimony to its value but, more, I
think a careful reading of it surely demonstrates that as well."
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