
Remembering My Cousin, Ludwig Wittgenstein (1977) - pmatrix
http://www.unz.org/Pub/Encounter-1977aug-00020
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lukeasrodgers
The episode with the poker-assisted demonstration of the "simplicity of
matter" could probably be interpreted as an expression of Wittgenstein's
belief that metaphysics (which presumably a discussion of the nature of matter
would constitute) could not be meaningfully discussed in words. When it comes
to metaphysics (and other "nonsense": poetry, ethics), "show, don't tell."

This is how, for example, Janik and Toulmin's book Wittgenstein's Vienna,
explain his obsession with Westerns (the film genre, not the people): they
show what cannot be said about morality in their depiction of good, evil,
loyalty, etc. Talk of "the simplicity of matter" would be nonsense, but we can
definitely get something across by vigorously swinging a poker around. (There
is general agreement, I believe, that Wittgenstein significantly revised his
stance on what can be meaningfully said/done in language between the Tractatus
and Philosophical Investigations in the 50s.)

On the other hand, maybe he was just angry (he "threatened" Karl Popper with a
poker during a philosophical disagreement).

Take all of this with a grain of salt, I am not a Wittgenstein expert.

------
codeulike
_A philosopher who is not taking part in discussions is like a boxer who never
goes into the ring._ \- Wittgenstein

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bachback
Wittgenstein gave some lectures on mathematics and logic, where Alan Turing
was present and they had discussions about mathematics (a book is available
with the lectures on mathematics). That was 3 years after on Turing's paper on
computable numbers.

~~~
zwischenzug
Yeah, and Wittgenstein owns him if I remember correctly. Reading their
conversations is like watching Frazier and Ali, absolute brilliance. I
particularly remember one exchange where Turing argues that a solution to a
chess problem could not be considered a mathematical proof, and W takes him
down.

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smoyer
I don't always agree with him but I always enjoy reading Hayek's writing.

Another little treat - Keynes and Hayek discussing the 2008 crisis in the US:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTQnarzmTOc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTQnarzmTOc)

