I'm not surprised

StormWarrior

That Wittgenstein spent his entire life contemplating suicide. Is it just me or are all of his works pointless and incredibly boring? I can't understand why he's such a respected philosopher! Why do people like him?

Joe1919

Its speculated that Wittgenstein may have been slightly autistics or perhaps had aspergers syndrome. Now this is interesting because there are some who claim (e.g. Foucault in history of madness) that these syndromes and so called mental illnesses are not diseases or illnesses as such (in most cases) but represent the limits of human behaviour. There are some people for example who don't have this need for an inter-subjective or spiritual bond. The may be put off by the need to follow the herd and their religion, and might be quite happy staying as an outsider. However, no-one is a true outsider as the language we speak is a product of society. "There is no private language. Language is just a tool,( A game) its meaning its in its use." The fact that we can, like Descartes in his meditations, think to ourselves is because we have learned from others. The fact that I can think language presupposes the existence of others and my own private layers of thought are built on what we learn from others and everything we know is limited by our language and others……..

I don't think many people actually reads Wittgenstein but his philosophy, I suppose was influential and has filtered down and has promoted relativism.

The fact that he was considered autistic and was an atheist is interesting. My own view is that some people are people people, they like to follow the crowd (herd) and are more likely to conform to the herds beliefs just to be part of the herd. They probably naturally are more empathic and connect inter-subjectively better with other people. Other people are more outsiders. The want to be different and will be attracted towards different views, just to be different.

StormWarrior

I didn't know Wittgenstein was considered possibly autistic but it makes sense. Alot of people really do read Wittgenstein but I can't understand why. For me, I just mistakenly chose a Wittgenstein module because it fitted in with my other modules. I regret it now, if I'd known what he was about I would have avoided it! Don't you find him pointless though? I mean, who cares if you can have a private language or not? Does it really matter?

Joe1919

The private language argument changes Descartes argument because the very fact that you can meditate presupposes a public language, so your own private consciousness is really the product of the public language. i.e. you may be born wired but a lot of public software is downloaded before you can even privately think.( Computer analogy)

He also screws up Plato, who asks What is Justice or Virtue or knowledge, because there is no 'what is'. We learn to speak without a dictionary at our side. The meaning of Language is in it is use. People just play language games. I spent a whole semester once on the definition of knowledge and how we justify knowledge claims. Wittgenstein would state that sometimes we cant justify what we know, as when we meet someone's brother and just see the family resemblance without actually knowing why.

My use of the word know or truth may be different to yours.

This is all his later thoughts.

When you fully go down this road, you end up in a relatively sceptical position similar to that of the famous Sophists Protagarous (man is the measure of all things) or Thrasymachus who gives his understanding of justice as "what is good for the stronger". i.e. There is no right or wrong, good or bad.

However, the position can be rescued to some extent by pragmatism.

Some argue that Plato was really a Sophist as he advocates telling noble lies and myths to uneducated herd and advocating putting the philosophers in positions of power. (see Leo Strauss and neo -conservatives connection) http://www.nhinet.org/ryn18-1.htm
This doctorine of the necessity of myths and lies to keep the herd in control and the political system in place has not disappeared.