On Wittgenstein

The question has been asked why I like Ludwig Wittgenstein, given that he has in some measure contributed to the relativism in vogue in some sectors of our society. Feminists for instance, take from Wittgenstein that there are no fixed truths but only language games that stereotype and oppress women. They then leap to the idea that if they can change the language it will change the reality of women in the world; ergo, the Politically Correct Crusade.

Wittgenstein's notion, however, was not really about language creating reality, but that language was a collection of non-interlocking puzzles or games - with emphasis on the 'non-interlocking.' For me, this was reminiscent of Thomas Kuhn’s scientific paradigm shifts, as well Kierkegaard’s three stages of life. For me, the key insight of all three was the same: that transitions between the separate spheres (however you want to define them) cannot be done logically or via any kind of rational construct.

Of course, they weren’t the only ones to come up with this insight. Of all the religions of man, it seems to me that Christianity was birthed in it. Leave aside the obvious fact of the eternal mystery of the Trinity, and just take one of many paradoxes at the heart of Christianity: the judgment and forgiveness of sins. So we are really and truly judged sinful and yet instantaneously forgiven? How does that work? Well, it does work, but definitely not as a logical syllogism concluding in an effortless Salvation. Muddle Judgment and Forgiveness together in some kind of logical synthesis and you lose both – and possibly your soul besides.

This is another example of how philosophers down through the ages keep coming up with new names for the same phenomena. Kierkegaard, Wittgenstein, and Kuhn each put forth a cutting edge philosophy, only to find that the new distinction discovered was at the very heart of Christianity more than 2,000 years ago. It gives a nice appearance of an advance in thought, I guess. But what it is really is the recovery of ancient wisdom that had faded from the cultural memory, and in that respect, these philosophical reiterations are very helpful.

So that’s why I like guys like Wittgenstein.

And you can’t blame Wittgenstein for the nonsense Feminists might do with his stuff. That’s like blaming manufacturers of a very helpful thing like glue for what teenage boys might do with their product and a paper bag.