Misc. Wittgenstein and Prophets I

A quote from Nordmann's Cambridge introduction to Wittgenstein's Tractatus:

1) "The theory and practice of the Tractatus distinguishes not just three, but four uses of language, including the one in which it is written ... While Wittgenstein scholars have learned to accept that some sentences might be senseless but not nonsensical (ie. logical propositions), most will not find intelligible the inverse claim that other expressions are literally nonsensical and yet make sense, for example, in that they help us 'see the world right' (TLP 6.54)." (Nordman 9)

and from Megill's Prophets of Extremity:

1) "...the loss of the transcendent dimension, prompted by the notion of Kritik as a pervasive power, leads to modern man's homelessness in the world. This is the crisis. It is the loss of authoritative standards of the good, the true, and the beautiful to which reason has access, coupled with loss of the Word of God in the Bible." (Megil xiii)

2) For those against the Prophets of Extremity, "refutation in any normal sense is impossible. To refute these writers, one must presuppose the very canons of logic that they attack, so that every refutation necessarily begs the question." (xiv)
Written on February 19, 2008