The Fate of Wonder by Cahill Kevin;

Author:Cahill, Kevin;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Philosophy/General
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2011-10-12T04:00:00+00:00

Noticing that the picture of rationality manifest in the view of rules as rails also carries with it an inherently atomist conception of human agency that blots out the common spaces between us allows me to point out the second, and I think more profound, level where we ought to see the relevance of Wittgenstein’s cultural concerns for motivating his later work. It also lets me connect my discussions of this and the previous chapter with what I have said earlier about the Tractatus in such a way that helps to fill in an important line of continuity in Wittgenstein’s work in philosophy.

I have claimed that the ethical point of the Tractatus is to be found in that book’s attempt to reawaken a sense of wonder in the reader (which Wittgenstein variously characterizes as “wonder at the existence of the world,” “wonder at the existence of language,” and to which I added “wonder at the fit between language (or mind) and world”). I have also argued that at the heart of the book’s ethical point are a set of cultural concerns that were a constant in Wittgenstein’s self-understanding as a philosopher. If these claims are true, it should be possible to say something about how these concerns inform his later thought. Now, as I think comes through in this remark from 1947, the task of fostering an openness to wonder remained an integral part of Wittgenstein’s understanding of philosophy throughout his life.

The mathematician too can of course marvel at the miracles (the crystal) of nature; but can he do it, once a problem has arisen about what he sees? Is it really possible as long as the object he finds awe-inspiring or gazes at with awe is shrouded in a philosophical fog?

I could imagine someone admiring trees, & also the shadows, or reflections of trees, which he mistakes for trees. But if he should once tell himself that these are not after all trees and if it becomes a problem for him what they are, or what relation they have to trees, then his admiration will have suffered a rupture, that will now need healing.35

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