Philosophical Quotation of the Day: Epistemology Edition

[owl_of_minerva]

I am sitting with a philosopher in the garden; he says again and again “I know that that’s a tree”, pointing to a tree that is near us. Someone else arrives and hears this, and I tell him: “This fellow isn’t insane. We are only doing philosophy.” (Wittgenstein, On Certainty, §467)

Comments

[poldy]

The gardener walks by and says "in fact, that's just a shrub."

[elricmelnibone]

And then the gardener's dog uses it as a toilet.

[epistolarysmack]

That quote actually gives me warm fuzzies. I sometimes wish philosophy had stopped with Wittgenstein.

[owl_of_minerva]

I could read Wittgenstein all day. I'm glad philosophy didn't stop with Ludwig, but he really does make me happy.

Of course, my undergrad papers for my Wittgenstein class were on "Wittgenstein and Levinas" and "Wittgenstein and Kierkegaard", so that probably says a lot about how I read him. (I found this quotation again while flipping through an old paper on Wittgenstein and Russell, though, so I should get some analytic cred ;) )

[epistolarysmack]

Wittgenstein and Kierkegaard?!!!? I would KILL to see that paper. Do you still have it? :-)

[owl_of_minerva]

I think I have it in hard copy only (or, it might be on a floppy disk somewhere, but I no longer have a computer that can take floppies). It basically talks about methodology & indirect communication. The ideas of indirect communication and mimesis (basically how does one try to convey ideas that aren't easily put into language) were really important to me at that point in undergrad; I also have a Heidegger & Augustine paper on much the same topic, if I remember correctly.

[enders_shadow]

Wonderful. Thanks.

[turkishb]

Hello, I am adding you because I always enjoy your commentary in some other journals I... what is the proper way to describe this? read? hang out in? Anyway, I realize most of your content is behind a friends lock. So I hope at some point we interact enough to gain entry. :)

[owl_of_minerva]

Hey turkishb, thanks! I'm not adding you back for now since I'm a little shy about adding new folks at present, but I'll keep my eyes open for you in our shared LJ hangouts.

Best,
Owl.

[turkishb]

No problem. Probably won't see much of me speaking. I tend to lurk, as I'd rather watch and learn than participate where I don't have the chops and simply gum up the works. (Uhm, see? Look at that mixed metaphor. I'm a mess.) :)

Alex