[lbo-talk] Re: Butler on Derrida

Miles Jackson cqmv at pdx.edu
Fri Oct 29 11:36:24 PDT 2004


On Fri, 29 Oct 2004 uvj at vsnl.com wrote:


> My question was about the Wittgensteinian school and its potential, if any,
> for providing topical commentary on the issues you have listed by using
> Wittgenstein's methods and assumptions.


>From W's perspective, you're asking the wrong question here. It isn't
the role of philosophy to provide "topical commentary". In fact, this assumption that philosophy should offer guidance about issues like the Holocaust is precisely what W. argued against in his work. Asking Wittgenstein to provide topical commentary about social problems is like asking a psychotherapist to provide instructions about how to rebuild a carburetor.

Miles



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