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Wittgenstein, bewitched
- calibraxis 11y ago> He left his teaching post under something of a cloud – he had hit one of his pupils so hard that she lost consciousness Translation: dudebro's a child abuser.
- mafribe 11y agoI wonder why this is downvoted. L Wittgenstein's behaviour as a teacher was in parts terrible, and hitting a pupil so hard she collapses is hardly good pedagogy. Parents in the village wrote a letter to the school authorities to have Wittgenstein removed. Given that this happened at a time when corporeal punishment was widely accepted, he must have been extreme. * * * W has acquired acolytes that refuse to have anything negative published about the master. That also the reason why you rarely read about W's sex life, which is ... interesting.
- garyclarke27 11y agoWhen I was in school in the 70's, I was hit and canned by teachers, was socially acceptable then, of course knocking unconscious is going a bit too far. I don't think he molested his pupils, more a reflection of his intensity about learning and frustration with students who didn't share this, many of his pupils loved him and performed exceptionally well under his tutelage.
- mafribe 11y agoI agree that corporeal punishment was generally accepted at the time. This is why I suspect (but don't know and surely can't prove, and might be wildly off the mark) that the primary reason the parents petitioned the authorities to get him removed was to do with his sexual preferences for boys. P
- privong 11y ago> I wonder why this is downvoted. Wittgenstein's behaviour is certainly inexcuseable. However, I downvoted the comment because "dudebro's a child abuser" adds nothing to the discussion and the use of "dudebro" suggests the commenter is not interested in engaging in constructive dialog.
- mafribe 11y agoGood point, I agree, it's not a constructive contribution. I should have paid more attention to the tone of the post.
- dredmorbius 11y agoSubstantively true, by current standards, and even at the time, with a further more serious incident later. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haidbauer_incident?wprov=sfla1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haidbauer_incident?wprov=sfla1
- orthoganol 11y agoWittgenstein's first work, Tractatus, promotes the kind of naturalist reductionism so popular today, whereas his last work, Philosophical Investigations, is a big swing to the other side, emphasizing the irreducible dimension of language. A crude summary, but IMHO, he's a bridge between Analytic and Continental philosophy.
- garyclarke27 11y agoGreat Article - Amazes me that Cambridge had so many geniuses at that time: Wittgenstein, Turing, Keynes - kind of like Athens with Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and London buses, but with a 2.5 thousand year wait. His Tractates Logico-Philosophicus, made a massive impression on me, many years ago, the only non fiction writing a can think of that brougt me to tears.
- hownottowrite 11y agoReference: A more detaile account of Wittgenstein's time as a school teacher (not a professor) http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/03/05/wittgenstein-schoolteacher/ http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/03/05/wittgenstein-s... NB: As the author of this article mentions, Wittgenstein scholars tend to gloss over this period of his life, but I agree that it was probably more influential on his later philosophy than his acolytes would have you believe.
- eternalban 11y agoGodard riffing on LW: https://youtu.be/_YQlQRtEuts https://youtu.be/_YQlQRtEuts