Is Kant wrong for America, or is deontism defensible? (via) [more inside]
posted by Alex404 on Dec 8, 2007 - 22 comments

§7. Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.

Ludwig Wittgenstein is such a contradictory figure that there are, in professional philosophical usage, two of him. Wittgenstein I had solved every philosophical problem in his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1921); having nothing else to do, he went home to Austria and became, unsuccessfully, a schoolteacher. In 1929, Wittgenstein I returned to Cambridge, where he began his transformation into Wittgenstein II. He was no longer confident in the Tractatus, his certainty in any answers less firm. Wittgenstein II's great, posthumous, work was the Philosophical Investigations. But Wittgenstein the living man was one, not two: musician and architect, reader of mysteries and engineer. "If philosophy has anything to do with wisdom," he once wrote, "there's certainly not a grain of that in Mind, and quite often a grain in the detective stories."
posted by nasreddin on Sep 7, 2007 - 52 comments

Coach vs Borges This is the one link posts to end one link posts.
posted by cascando on Feb 12, 2007 - 66 comments

Goldsmith sings Wittgenstein. Part two. (mp3) Kenneth Goldsmith (previously), the "most boring writer that has ever lived," has become a sort of rockstar in conceptual art circles. When he's not singing linguistic theory, you can find him transcribing his own speech, spinning records, and reading the other Kenny G's fanmail. More theory set to music.
posted by roll truck roll on Dec 27, 2006 - 23 comments

Wittgenstein, in a letter to Norman Malcolm, wrote: "...A couple of years ago I read with great pleasure a detective story called Rendezvous With Fear by a man Norbert Davis. I enjoyed it so much that I gave it not only to Smythies but also to Moore to read and both shared my high opinion of it. For, though, as you know, I’ve read hundreds of stories that amused me and that I liked reading, I think I’ve only read two perhaps that I’d call good stuff, and Davis’s is one of them... It may sound crazy, but when I recently re-read the story I liked it again so much that I thought I’d really like to write to the author and thank him. If this is nuts don’t be surprised, for so am I..."
Though it is discussed by both Ray Monk, in his biography of Wittgenstein, and Edmonds and Eidenow, in their popular book about Wittgenstein's philosophical clash with Popper (and an aging Russell), it is always interesting to read about this strange man's love of detective fiction. Though I don't necessarily agree with the linked author's conclusions, it makes for a good read.
posted by voltairemodern on Jun 19, 2006 - 22 comments

Wittgenstein's Nachlass (literary remains) are now available in an electronic format, courtesy of the University of Bergen Wittgenstein Archive. The 20th century's greatest philosopher never could find a way to publish the 20,000 manuscript pages, that constituted his most important work, in sequential book form; the Philosophical Investigations were pieced together after his death by his trustees. He probably would have appreciated the potential of electronic publishing. There's an excellent Wittgenstein portal, too.
posted by liam on Jan 7, 2002 - 17 comments

Is There Anything Cooler Than Clint Eastwood on Heidegger and Wittgenstein? Bruce Jay Friedman, hilariously, thinks not. Revered in Jamaica and Southern Europe as the coolest man still alive, why is the ex-mayor of Carmel, jazz buff and Oscar-winning actor still regarded in his own country as just another talentless old geezer whose time has long since passed?
posted by MiguelCardoso on Nov 13, 2001 - 27 comments