Philosophy
A few days ago colleague and POSP stringer Tim sent me the following...
Ludwig Wittgenstein sat on a battlefield as bullets and shrapnel whizzed by writing furiously in a notebook working on mathematical equation after mathematical equation and came to realize that there is no language capable of producing a truth. language sets limitations on our human rationalization. all great thinkers sought an axiom equivalent of 2 plus 2 equals 4.
I don't recall the anecdote but I believe that Wittgenstein is correct. The "2+2=4" mathematical representation is an explanation from a fixed frame of reference...our universe as we see it. It may well be meaningless [a non-truth] at the edge of the universe. It is presumptuous and somewhat arrogant to postulate that what we observe and construe as the truth to be universal.
Any thoughts?
- Al Gore: The Modern Day Otto Neurath
Watching Al Gore's powerpoint presentation in An Inconvenient Truth reminded me of Otto Neurath's isotype in the first half of the 20th century. Neurath is one of those "smartest people you've never heard of" folks. He claimed to have read...
- Does God Have Hands?
In the Philosophical Investigations Wittgenstein attempts to illustrate how misunderstanding the nature of language can lead to philosophical perplexity. For example, (and this isn?t a great example) take the sentence ?He has lost his mind.? We know...
- Whereof One Cannot Speak... Fight Fire With Fire
You gotta give it to religious believers, no one in the history of humanity has managed to twist arguments and evidence to suit their beliefs quite like them. When you ask for evidence, there's always some bullshit story about the virtue of faith...
- Anthony Quinton On Wittgenstein
I just found out that philosopher Anthony Quinton recently passed away (you've seen him before talk about Spinoza and Leibniz), so I thought today would be an appropriate occasion to show a little appreciation for his intellectual and pedagogical...
- Michael P. Lynch's Comments On Paul Horwich's “was Wittgenstein Right?”
See... No, Wittgenstein isn't "dead" "Of Flies and Philosophers: Wittgenstein and Philosophy" by Michael P. Lynch March 5th, 2013 The New York Times “To show the fly the way out of the fly bottle ”— that, Wittgenstein once said, was the...
Philosophy
A Wittgenstein anecdote
A few days ago colleague and POSP stringer Tim sent me the following...
Ludwig Wittgenstein sat on a battlefield as bullets and shrapnel whizzed by writing furiously in a notebook working on mathematical equation after mathematical equation and came to realize that there is no language capable of producing a truth. language sets limitations on our human rationalization. all great thinkers sought an axiom equivalent of 2 plus 2 equals 4.
I don't recall the anecdote but I believe that Wittgenstein is correct. The "2+2=4" mathematical representation is an explanation from a fixed frame of reference...our universe as we see it. It may well be meaningless [a non-truth] at the edge of the universe. It is presumptuous and somewhat arrogant to postulate that what we observe and construe as the truth to be universal.
Any thoughts?
- Al Gore: The Modern Day Otto Neurath
Watching Al Gore's powerpoint presentation in An Inconvenient Truth reminded me of Otto Neurath's isotype in the first half of the 20th century. Neurath is one of those "smartest people you've never heard of" folks. He claimed to have read...
- Does God Have Hands?
In the Philosophical Investigations Wittgenstein attempts to illustrate how misunderstanding the nature of language can lead to philosophical perplexity. For example, (and this isn?t a great example) take the sentence ?He has lost his mind.? We know...
- Whereof One Cannot Speak... Fight Fire With Fire
You gotta give it to religious believers, no one in the history of humanity has managed to twist arguments and evidence to suit their beliefs quite like them. When you ask for evidence, there's always some bullshit story about the virtue of faith...
- Anthony Quinton On Wittgenstein
I just found out that philosopher Anthony Quinton recently passed away (you've seen him before talk about Spinoza and Leibniz), so I thought today would be an appropriate occasion to show a little appreciation for his intellectual and pedagogical...
- Michael P. Lynch's Comments On Paul Horwich's “was Wittgenstein Right?”
See... No, Wittgenstein isn't "dead" "Of Flies and Philosophers: Wittgenstein and Philosophy" by Michael P. Lynch March 5th, 2013 The New York Times “To show the fly the way out of the fly bottle ”— that, Wittgenstein once said, was the...