Sam26

You do need some background, so I wouldn't recommend trying to do it if you don't know much about Wittgenstein. The Tractatus, for example, is one of ...

What's been fun for me, is to read and study Wittgenstein, then to compare my interpretation with others who are experts. It's exciting to learn that ...

If I were you I would concentrate on primary source material. The best way to understand Wittgenstein is to read Wittgenstein. Secondary sources are i...

I take it by "doing stuff," so to speak, that it's "doing stuff" in a particular way, i.e., one can do stuff, but the stuff we're doing may still lack...

No, I'm not saying you're making a mistake, just trying to make sure there is no misunderstanding. I'm trying to point out things that should be kept ...

No, I don't want to start it another way. Why? Because it's clear that this is the case. If you do think of these things in another way, then you will...

You must not think that when Wittgenstein if referring to objects or names that this corresponds to what we normally think of as objects and names. I ...

In the preface to the Tractatus Wittgenstein tells us what the aim of the Tractatus is: "The book deals with the problems of philosophy, and shows, I ...

It's generally regarded that T. 1.0 and 1.1 are conclusions to what follows. Also keep in mind that Wittgenstein is trying to solve the problems of th...

Very true, and the fact that there is disagreement is very important to working through these ideas, and it's very important to not being bored. :nerd...

It's interesting that the various interpretations of what I'm saying, doesn't quite fit what I'm saying. Fdrake is probably the closest to my view, al...

I'm going to try to word this a bit differently to see if it helps to make my position clear. I am saying that we don't know what's in each other's bo...

There's not much more I can say, we just disagree.

I believe what you're doing is imposing our linguistic understanding onto the cat or dog. The only way we know, for example, that an animal has a beli...

Since when does epistemology happen outside of language? I think the most you can say is that the dog has beliefs. Knowledge involves justification, w...

Ya, you miss understood my point. I did say earlier that there is a correct use of the word soul, also that there is an incorrect use of the word soul...

It depends I guess on what you mean by referent. So I can point to a specific referent when referring to the Earth, or I can talk about many referents...

There is no relationship between the use of the word soul as it has been historically used apart from religion, at least some religions, and how Chris...

I just don't see this as being true. Do I have to have the exact experience as you in order to understand certain kinds of pain? I've never had my arm...

Any bodily expression is an expression of the soul, which really is related to what we've meant by soul historically. If you really want to know the m...

No. I thought I already explained what makes the use of the word soul different.

Why would you think I'm taking it personally? I just don't see what you're saying as connecting up with much of what was said. Anti-foundationalism, w...

First, no one said that the goal of communication is to limit misunderstandings, at least I didn't. Much of what you're saying is a complete misunders...

Well maybe I wasn't clear in that post. It's not just a lack of a referent, it's lack of any way to be subject to a rule that gives meaning to the wor...

Hi Luke, I haven't talked to you in a while. Those of you who have followed my posts over the years, or have followed my recent posts, I hope know and...

I'm always willing to listen to good arguments, and new ways of looking at things.

You make it sound like someone is force feeding you, viz., that an argument against your belief is being shoved down your throat. I'm right you're wro...

I like it, sounds good to me.

Give me my argument, that way I can see your interpretation of what I'm saying. Don't just quote me, but spell it out.

It's not just catastrophic misunderstandings, but also subtle misunderstandings, so subtle that much of the time they're missed.

Again, I agree.

The part where you're relaying a completely private experience, i.e., your experience is private. Of course if you're doing more than just saying your...

No, the referent in my private use is not what establishes meaning. I thought I made this clear.

I don't see how what I've said differs from this quote. Of course you mean how you feel about things. I'm not saying it's senseless to refer to inner ...

True, but not all uses of words that you think make sense, do make sense.

My point is whether the use of the word soul has sense, not whether there is something immortal that goes on after death. Besides even Plato can be wr...

One of the purposes of Wittgenstein's language-games is to show how it is that we mean something by our words, and how this comes about, this has been...

Yes, it's an established use among Christians, but just because something is part of a language-game, that doesn't mean it's correct usage, or more im...

I'm going to turn the question around, since it's you who had the bone to pick. :razz:

I actually agree with much of what you're saying. However, maybe what you're observing about my concentration on particular Wittgensteinian ideas, is ...

I'm not necessarily criticizing your post, but only pointing out that use is not always a good indicator of the correct use of a word. Some people who...

That's why how one uses a word doesn't always mean that one is using it correctly. It's also true of groups of people, for e.g., if certain religious ...

If you express a feeling and its accompanying behavioral acts, then it is necessarily rule-governed, so it may or may not need other linguistic modifi...

That's not an example. So Bob couldn't look at a person who is screaming and correctly use the word pain, viz., he couldn't tell someone else that Sue...

What use of the word pain would be beyond Bob's grasp?

I do believe that public criterion is a necessary feature of language use, so I don't think it's possible to have a private language. However, this is...

True, but the sense of the word isn't dependent on your private experience anyway.

It's true in this example that Mary doesn't understand the sense of the word, there is nothing public here, so Mary has no sense of the word. I don't ...

I don't think you need to feel pain in order to understand the sense of the word. Surely I could understand the sense by observation, and thereby use ...

What I would say here is that just because we use a word in a language-game, as in the Christian use of the word soul, that that in itself doesn't mea...