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THE THOUGHT of LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN Course Syllabus

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THE THOUGHT of LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN Course Syllabus CTMP 3192: THE THOUGHT OF LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN Course Syllabus Winter 2016 T 1:05–2:25 R 1:05–2:25 Instructor: Dr. Michael Bennett Email: [email protected] Office: 3rd floor, New Academic Building Office Hours: Tues. 11 am to 1 pm and by appointment “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 Gustav Klimt, Study for ‘Philosophy’ (1887) isn’t insane. We are only doing philosophy.” Course Description This course is an introduction to the thought of Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951). Wittgenstein was a philosopher, or, as he himself says, “one of the heirs of the subject that used to be called philosophy.” Nevertheless, this is not a philosophy course. In addition to texts by Wittgenstein, we will also examine literary, scientific and autobiographical works in order to reflect on Wittgenstein’s intellectual context(s) and legacy. In this first half of the course we examine Wittgenstein’s oracular masterpiece, Tractatus Logico- Philosophicus, and consider how the core insights contained in that text—about language, logic, and ethics—bubbled out of the cultural ferment of the last days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In the second half we make a careful study of Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations, the major fruit of his later period, which is often taken to mark a decisive shift toward a conception of language focused on its ordinary use rather than its logical purification. Reading Wittgenstein is a rewarding experience, however much patience it requires. Ultimately one is left with a vision of Wittgenstein as a kind of “anti-philosopher” or “post-philosophical” thinker. One of our main goals this term will be to put some meat on the bones of this observation. Format The course meets twice weekly for 1 hour and 20 minutes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Classes will be conducted as a seminar roundtable. I will occasionally introduce discussion—which is intended to be student-led—with short explanatory glosses or “mini-lectures” and I will often bring in audiovisual supplements and, at least once, refreshments. Required Texts There are three for this course: 1. Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, ed. Marc Joseph (Broadview 2014) 2. Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, eds. Hacker and Schulte (Wiley-Blackwell 2010) 3. Ludwig Wittgenstein, Culture and Value, trans. Peter Winch (University of Chicago Press 1984) These books are available at the King’s Co-op Bookstore in the basement of the New Academic Building. Many other readings, both required and recommended, will be made available through BbLearn. Please check it regularly and download PDFs as needed. Assessment 1. Discussion questions (15%) 2. Tractatus writing assignment (20%) 3. Investigations writing assignment (20%) 4. Final research paper (35%) 5. Seminar attendance and participation (10%) 1) Discussion questions (15%) Everyone will be responsible for preparing discussion questions once this term. You will have the opportunity to sign up for the dates that work best for you, with the reasonable restriction that the classes for which you prepare questions will be those in which we look directly at primary texts by Wittgenstein himself. In preparing your questions, you should read the assigned readings extra-carefully and note any ambiguities, especially difficult passages, or resonances with other readings we have already come across. Try to think of questions you suspect your colleagues will also have. For example, pick out a thorny passage or concept or an opaque conceptual illustration. Excellent questions will be not only insightful and thought provoking but will also engage everyone in productive conversation. Please prepare at least three questions and submit them in writing to me on the day of the class. 2) Tractatus writing assignment (20%) Everyone will write this assignment about the relation between Wittgenstein’s Tractatus and another text by one of his Viennese contemporaries (Kraus, Loos, Schoenberg, Hertz, Hoffmansthal, or Frege). What is similar/different about Wittgenstein and (for instance) Loos? Do they share similar ambitions or reach distinct conclusions? These assignments should be about 3 pages long, double-spaced. They should not contain long direct quotations or extensive referential apparatus. Rather, they should represent thoughtful reflections on how exactly two thinkers or two works resonate with one another. Marks will be awarded based on the quality of your argument, the accuracy of your explication, the clarity of your writing, and the insightfulness of your comments. This assignment is due on Friday, February 12th before 4:00 pm. Please submit it in hard-copy to Sharon Brown in the Contemporary Studies office (3rd floor of the NAB). If Sharon is not there, you may slip your work under her door or through the slot for assignments. 2 3) Investigations writing assignment (20%) Like the Tractatus assignment, this writing assignment should be relatively short (3 pages, double- spaced). This assignment, however, asks you to choose a numbered section of the Philosophical Investigations (e.g., §318, which suggests that saying another’s pain is the same as mine is like saying that when it’s 5 o’clock here it’s the same time on the sun) and to explicate it in your own words. This is an exercise in slow and diligent close reading. Show your reader exactly what twists and turns Wittgenstein’s expressive writing takes. You may wish even to go line by line. As Wittgenstein himself puts it, “This is how philosophers should salute each other: ‘Take your time!’” (Culture and Value, 80e). You may need to draw on other numbered sections of the text as well in order to interpret the one you have chosen. These assignments are due on Friday, March 18th before 4:00 pm. Submit them in the same way. 4) Final research paper (35%) By “paper” I mean an essay with a clear, strong thesis, containing arguments in favour of some particular position on a topic emerging out of our study of Wittgenstein. This paper should make use of at least two secondary sources (which are in no short supply when it comes to Wittgenstein). If you have any questions about how to find, use, evaluate or cite secondary sources, please come talk to me. I will create a list of useful secondary resources and update it on the BbLearn page. These papers should be between 8 and 10 pages, double-spaced. These essays may build on one of your writing assignments or they may consist of entirely new material and analysis. Here are some general research areas that you may want to investigate: - To what extent did Wittgenstein revise, criticize or go back on his early views about language in his later philosophy? - How exactly is the early Wittgenstein different from Frege? Russell? The Vienna Circle? - Is the late Wittgenstein a pragmatist? - How exactly are Wittgenstein’s views about ethics and/or aesthetics and/or religion related to his conception(s) of language and/or philosophy? - Wittgenstein and literature - Wittgenstein and academic philosophy/university pedagogy - Wittgenstein’s image in popular culture These papers are due on Monday, April 11th by 4 pm. in the Contemporary Studies office, once again with Sharon Brown. 5) Attendance and participation (10%) For the seminar to run smoothly and effectively it is very important that everyone attend class regularly and arrive prepared to discuss the assigned readings. “Regularly” here means not missing more than a handful of our meetings (say, five) without a valid excuse (e.g., a doctor’s note). “Prepared” means having done the reading carefully—perhaps even having taken notes—and developed a few embryonic ideas to share with your colleagues. 3 Schedule of Classes Date Topic Reading Tuesday, Jan. 5 Introduction to the course N/A The Early Wittgenstein (Vienna) Thursday, Jan. 7 Modernism and the crisis of § Hugo von Hoffmansthal, “A Letter” (1902) language Tuesday, Jan. 12 Cultural Critique in Kakania § Adolf Loos, “Ornament and Crime” (1908) § Karl Kraus, “Against Heine” (1910) Recommended: § Paul Engelmann, from Letters from Ludwig Wittgenstein, in TLP pp. 153-56 Thursday, Jan. 14 Revolution in Viennese § Arnold Schoenberg, “Theory or System of Aesthetics: Painting and Music Presentation?” from Theory of Harmony (1910) Recommended: § Alex Ross, “Whistling in the Dark: Schoenberg’s Unfinished Revolution” The New Yorker, February 18, 2002 Tuesday, Jan. 19 Wittgenstein’s Philosophical § Heinrich Hertz, from The Principles of Mechanics Context: Kantian Idealism and Presented in a New Form (1894), in TLP, pp. Frege 150-53 § Gottlob Frege, from “On Sense and Reference” (1892) and “On the Foundations of Geometry” (1906) in TLP, pp. 157-63 Thursday, Jan. 21 Wittgenstein’s Philosophical § Bertrand Russell, from “Mathematical Logic Context: Russell as Based on a Theory of Types” (1908) and from Theory of Knowledge (1913), in TLP 169-77 Recommended: § J. M. Keynes, “My Early Beliefs” (1938) Tuesday, Jan. 26 The Tractatus § Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico- Philosophicus [abbreviated hereafter TLP], “Preface” and 1–3.144 Thursday, Jan. 28 Tractatus, cot’d. § TLP 3.2–4.4661 Tuesday, Feb. 2 Tractatus, cot’d. § TLP 4.5–5.5571 Thursday, Feb. 4 Tractatus, cot’d. § TLP 5.6–7 Tuesday, Feb. 9 Ethics § Russell, “Introduction to the Tractatus Logico- Philosophicus” (1922), in TLP pp. 177-79 § Wittgenstein, “A Lecture on Ethics” (1929) in TLP pp. 185-89 Thursday, Feb. 11 Reading the Tractatus § Cora Diamond, “Ethics, imagination and the resolutely… method of Wittgenstein’s Tractatus” Tuesday, Feb. 16 and Study Break No Classes! Thursday, Feb. 18 4 The Late Wittgenstein (Cambridge) Tuesday, Feb. 23 What do you do after all the § The Vienna Circle, “The Scientific Conception problems of philosophy have of the World” been solved? § Norman Malcolm, from Ludwig Wittgenstein: A Memoir (1953) Thursday, Feb.
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