tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6701420428167031490.post7011676736027227469..comments2024-03-28T14:10:11.988+00:00Comments on Philosophical Investigations: The Death of MetaphysicsPhilip Cartwrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11458571502536123264noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6701420428167031490.post-49935297416027136032011-09-12T08:12:52.059+01:002011-09-12T08:12:52.059+01:00I find the "Tractatus mindset" silly unt...I find the "Tractatus mindset" silly until I force myself to think it through (though I do NOT claim to be any kind of expert on it). Then it starts to have a certain beauty. I suspect its appeal is as much aesthetic as logical (and, as such, will captivate some and leave others cold). But, of course, its importance in this case is as one example of a characteristic way of thinking - Wittgenstein's saying that the sorts of mistakes he made crop up (in one form or another) in many other places.<br /><br />RE: "what must exist" - good point. My wording's a bit of a hostage to fortune. Will amend.Philip Cartwrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11458571502536123264noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6701420428167031490.post-60631702345564315402011-09-12T07:39:00.217+01:002011-09-12T07:39:00.217+01:00One of the difficulties I have with this is gettin...One of the difficulties I have with this is getting into the mindset of the initial mistake - the idea that the world must consist of indestructible simples or else language and meaning would be impossible seems pretty obviously stupid, so it is hard to see what all the fuss is about. On the other hand, when we get to the one metre rule then the scope for confusion and metaphysics seems more understandable. Maybe I should have spent more time reading the Tractatus before I read PI :-)<br />One minor point - "you say: So although we might be tempted to claim that the length “1m” must exist or else we couldn’t even say “nothing is 1m long”, this would be confused. What has to exist is part of the language: the means of representation." and I was a bit worried by the "what has to exist" phrase in there - it might be safer to amplify this and make clear that it means: "what has to exist if we are to play the language game we play with the words "one metre" is the sample that we use in this language-game". Nothing has to exist tout court - rather in a manifestly tautological way something that is a necessary part of the rules of a language game has to exist if we are to play that language game.Paul Johnstonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08676164388115825863noreply@blogger.com