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I wrote to DH around 2000 after a discussion I had with a friend about Wittgenstein and GEB. It was a pretty callow email, but he was kind enough to send a thou
by zwischenzug 14y ago
I wrote to DH around 2000 after a discussion I had with a friend about Wittgenstein and GEB. It was a pretty callow email, but he was kind enough to send a thoughtful reply.
He said he didn't know much about Wittg., but didn't like his vagueness, which I found interesting from someone who was into Zen.
- teeja 14y agoI'd suggest that the difference is that Zen (at least in some schools) is after a meta-cognitive experience (by definition inexpressible in concrete terms) which transcends (even short circuits) cognition - whereas the aim of Western philosophy (at least in some schools) is a description of experience in concrete terms accessible to the intellect. I oversimplify, of course. But the extent to which Hofstadter is "into" Zen is open to question. (I don't remember much Zen in GEB.)
- zwischenzug 14y agoPrecisely. Wittgenstein was (in approach at least) a reaction against Western philosophy, and his "vagueness" was a consequence of that.