less on a conversation, more on reading...

specifically wittgenstein.

wittgenstein. my favorite twentieth-century philosopher (nietzsche being my favorite nineteenth century one for his sarcastic wit and intense classical education). he's the unknown man in twentieth century thinkers save for those with the proper background in either analytic philosophy, philosophy of language or love of all things fin de siecle vienna. i actually discovered wittgenstein in two ways: philosophical investigations i read parts of during my study of language thoughts beyond the typical linguistic vein (gah, damn chomsky and bloomfield) and then the tractatus when i was spending a great deal of my winter in vienna two years ago.

there is an elegance to wittgenstein, to his character, to his mind. there are very few thinkers or writers who i pick up i can so easily understand and appreciate their work (virginia woolf, tolstoy, homer are the only other ones that come to mind). his life was breathed on constantly by tragedy (three brothers committed suicide, people always seemed to commit suicide before he could meet them), knew or inspired some of the most famous/infamous of the twentieth century (he went to school with hitler, taught alan turing, influenced the prague circle, who included roman jakobson, leading to structuralism, early major theories of phonology in linguistics...). probably and most likely the most fascinating person who lived through the cursed and very interesting times of the twentieth century in central and western Europe.

i don't know if i'm right (this isn't a fucking academic treatise, so it doesn't matter if i am or not), but there were things he certainly seemed to think that i fundamentally agree with. the elegance of math and its basis, coupled with the necessity of logic and evidence alone in empirical sciences. the fact that language was the means of expression for other things, from the metaphysics he was weary of (gah, fuck modern metaphysics and, though may bob solomon rest in peace, his stuff too) to the investigations of the social sciences. he believed faith also belonged elsewhere. a man who believed in some creator, but didn't believe in fanaticism. a dogmatically honest and moralistic person who was rather anxious and horrible at dealing with others (he was apparently a bomb as a pre-secondary schoolteacher).

this is just a post about me raving about wittgenstein. really. he's my intellectual hero, if such a thing can exist. he also, probably, tying into the overall theme of this blog, is the basis for my ideal type of male.