Philosophy of the Body

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1. 

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   Spencer Owen says Ooh, you don't like Wittgenstein more than Beirut? I do. (at least the quotes I've heard) Heard the new Matmos? The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of the Beast?

   Permalink posted 10/25/2006
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   Spencer Owen says Hm, I think I'll come on back to your page for a reply. 1. I am not as verbose or linguistically obsessive as you seem to be, but I've had a few English teachers in my life and, during said life, I have come to understand that the term "a quote" is ultimately a decent way to refer to "a quotation." 2. Listen; we all have a right to be snobbish about things to which we've devoted significant portions of our lives studying and/or pondering, but you would benefit from cooling it. This year I've listened to a Matmos album with a lead-off song based on a text by Wittgenstein (it's the title track - can you believe I don't know what book it's in), and I've also been to an exhibit at the Berkeley Art Museum recently featuring paintings also inspired by Wittgenstein quotations that appear in the works. That's what I know about him at the moment, and I like him based on these things. Perhaps one day, perhaps soon, I'll read a book he wrote - maybe more than one. In all likelihood, I will not read his collected works. Anyway, if you like Matmos, or if you don't know that you do, you might want to check out the album and see if they interpret/appropriate his words to your liking. Point of original, highly casual comment complete.

   Permalink posted 10/25/2006
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   BMichael says Oh dude, you've got me all wrong. I try always to be working on my writing style--but I was NOT criticizing your usage by any means. I use the two (quote, quotation) interchangeably. If I seem particularly verbal-focused it's because I just started a job editing a book, and I'm really into the whole correct usage thing. I listened to the Matmos album, it's awesome. The allusion is to a section of the Philosophic Investigations wherein he's talking about sentences that make sense and ones that don't. One of Wittgenstein's points (and this isn't really earth-shaking or anything) is that language is given meaning by its context, which includes practices in life (e.g., playing soccer, chess; other pieces of language; situations that include people with a certain type of knowledge [like, say, a priest or a scientist]; and so forth). So, "The rose has teeth in the mouth of the beast" is an example of a sentence that seems to be nonsense because it seems to lack a context that could give it any meaning. It may have meaning when there happens to be a beast chewing on a rose, and you understand "has teeth" by its being chewed upon. I'm, like, totally chill. I'm really sorry that I put you off earlier. Thanks for calling me on it.

   Permalink posted 10/25/2006

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