John Searle on Ludwig Wittgenstein: Section 4

Bryan Magee talks to John Searle about the legacy of Ludwig Wittgenstein; ranging from his early work, the Tractatus, to his posthumously published, Philosophical Investigations.

Section 1:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=qrmPq8pzG9Q

Section 2:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=kl-iLxleHaw

Section 3:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=cjZBNDW7DmQ

Section 4:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=lGfHQzOzp9s

Section 5:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=p4q0ntDIQBw

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Ludwig
• Wittgenstein
• Bryan
• Magee
• John
• Searle
• Philosophy
• Language
• Logic
• Logical
• Positivism
• Tractatus
• Investigations

[Huesos138]

Ah... some critique of Wittgenstein, finally.

[karranz]

Really good talk about Wittgenstein, amazing!!! really good University of California Bercley Professor!!!

[Catz007]

@Catz007

... and stick with what you find. Also, you may find - or you may not - that H20 has a totally different quality in some other part of the universe, due to various factors. Just look and see. Don't commit yourself, because you would pre-legislating for a nature of which you are mostly ignorant.

In other words, describe the world, don't explain it - because to explain it you add signs; signs which make no sense. Isn't Science just a mathematico-empiric description?

[Catz007]

@HumanActivitySystem

The problem I find with the Physics analogy is that the H20 present in the Niagara falls, steam, the polar ice, etc are not theory, but a way of referring to actual experience, which we perceive when we do the relevant chemical experiments.

To see that they are all one substance (ie water) we need to look into the phenomena and find out.

So, in the same way, to understand the mind, theory is meaningless, just look into it and see what you find and ...

[Catz007]

@kingeric77

"There is nothing beyond the text." - Derrida

^ Wittgenstein would have found that absurd. So what, this tree is a text? Wittgenstein found philosophical problems occurring when we become matalinguistic, or try and transcend our language. A tree is a tree. It's not a text. But, see this block of writing - yes, that's what we call a text.

[MrCropper]

@Huesos138 " some critique of Wittgenstein, finally."

Here, here! Searle is great almost all around. And Wittgenstein needs critique.

[HumanActivitySystem]

Also, not to knock Searle, but his physics analogy I find to actually disprove the point he is trying to make about the possibility of there being developed a general theory of language (contrary to Wittgenstein) b/c the development of physics seems to have shown how much we, in fact, don't understand. In other words, physics has made any sense of understanding physics more complicated & physicists simply make up new particles. Quantum Mechanics undermines our most basic observations of reality.

[Urdoxa]

i can't tell if Magee is conceding that they truly aren't worth mention, or if he is actually chomping at the bit to make that next program happen. Its an ambiguous smirk on his face, thats all.

[TimothyBragan]

"You begin to address your wife in Wittgensteinean aphorisms, which can be very exasperating."

What a great line!

[MyoyuMusic]

@Williyf he is. he has lots of podcasts of his lectures on the berkeley website

[Williyf]

I have a feeling that this american chap would be a great teacher. The interviewer is good as well, not afraid to engage the questions.