Wittgenstein's Poker

[robinturner]

That's poker as in the thing you poke fires with, not the game. I've been reading an entertaining book of this title, about a debate between Wittgenstein and Popper lasting five minutes, in which Pooper either did or did not come off best, and in which Wittgenstein either did or did not threaten Popper with a poker. It is to answer these questions that the authors, David Edmonds and John Eidinow have applied their considerable talents, going into the lives and times of these two philosophers in impressive detail. Not the kind of thing most people would choose for their bed-time reading, but I recommend it to the philosophy students reading this, of whom I know there are at least two.

Comments

a must read!

[inignitable.livejournal.com]

I'll look for it. Funny, it reminds me of the tall tales my brother (the one with the philosophy degree) would tell about certian philosophers. Like how one of the greeks would masturbate or fornicate in public. Another identified with a dog being beaten and asked the man beating it to stop hitting the dog- he thought it was his friend. Another tall tale was that Neitche(sp!) was so damned crochety he got irritated by some violin player in the floor above that he started shooting his shotgun at her through the floor. Or that James Joyce was so into epiphanies that he was a chain smoker and marathon runner. And Descarte (sp?) was a total merc, joining up with whichever army in whatever war he happened upon, or one time swashbuckling some hooligans trying to pinch his dough.

Well my brother isn't the best liar, so my education has a little integrity, but I thought I'd share that anyway.

[ex-fauxpas266.livejournal.com]

Pooper?

Pooper and Shop'n'hours

[solri.livejournal.com]

Damn, I've written "Popper" so many times recently, and every time I wrote "Pooper" and had to correct it. Looks like I missed one. Is it a Freudian slip, I wonder?

Planning my course for the second semester, I'm thinking of giving my students some Schopenhauer. Is this overly sadistic, given that they're actually supposed to be learning English and academic skills, not depressing nineteenth century philosophy?

That reminds me, I started writing a song a while back to the tune of John Lee Hooker's "I think I'll give up living (and go shopping instead)":

I think I'll give up living,
And read Schopenhauer instead.
Yes I think I'll give up living,
And read Schopenhauer instead.
When I finish The World as Will and Representation
I might as well be dead.

I think I'll give up ma bad faith,
And read J-P Sartre instead.
Yes I think I'll give up ma bad faith,
And read J-P Sartre instead.
Gonna make up my mind who I wanna be
Every time I get out of bed.

There was more, but I forget it. Just as well, probably.

Re: Pooper and Shop'n'hours

[ex-fauxpas266.livejournal.com]

Sadistic? Yes. It is challenging stuff for native speakers of English. And it's probably the case in German as well. Maybe it is best to give them stuff originally written in English? Though I guess that really wouldn't make much of a difference as far as teaching them a language is concerned. But when I'm learning a language I'm interested in the culture and history, so I want to read stuff originally written in that language. But your students are probably learning English for more practical uses. So whatever!

You need to record an album. What instruments do you play?

Re: Pooper and Shop'n'hours

[solri.livejournal.com]

Recorder, baroque flute and keyboards, though I don't have a keybaord at the moment (thinking of getting a basic MIDI keyboard so I can do some composing).

The song

[cibetky.livejournal.com]

Great! And it kind of reminds me of this site
http://www.manitowoc.uwc.edu/staff/awhite/phisong.htm
You definitely should record it as an mp3.

Btw, I'm another philosophy student reading this (=your journal). ;-)