Chapter 3 in Anthony Kenny’s Philosophy in the Modern world is an overview of the key philosophical thinkers of the nineteenth century, ranging from Freud’s theories of psychoanalysis to Derrida’s attacks on phonocentrism. These theorists put forward arguments beginning with perspectives from existentialist theory and ending with theories on language and logic. Following this I will explain my interpretation of the Tractatus written by Wittgenstein and then finish with other theories and examples on language by various other theorists.
To begin with then, Sigmund Freud developed theories on the mind which lead to his theories on how to treat illness of the mind, namely, psychoanalysis. Kenny explains this to be simply the exchanging of words between a doctor and a patient. This exchanging of words can lead to people discovering their inner feelings or their subconscious coming to the surface. Freud believed that society causes a sublimation of basic human instincts which can ultimately lead to traumas if not expressed throughout somebody’s life. He suggests that most of these psychological traumas dated back to infancy which would usually be related to some kind of repressed sexual experience or experiences. To a certain extent Freud felt that dreams were a pathway to a person’s subconscious and they held a person’s true feelings towards their life and who they are. Some of his main theories were highlighted in the chapter. The first mentioned is Freud’s very famous theory known as the Oedipus complex. This suggested that there were various sexual stages of infantile sexual development, those named where oral, anal and phallic. In summary this sees a boy finding a natural attraction to his mother however through fears of his father castrating him for doing so means the child eventually identifies with his father. This process was targeted towards boys however there was supposedly a female version of the theory. The second highlighted was his theory on a persons personality. He suggested that there were three components to a personality; the id, the ego and the superego. The Id was a person’s subconscious and was the most dominant personality of the three. It constantly besieged the ego which was the weakest personality and the most rational of the three, Freud also referred to the ego as the self. The other part of the personality is the super ego which can be considered to be similar to that of society’s infliction on mankind. It constantly strives for impossible achievements and punishes the self or the ego with guilt when these targets are not met.
The next key theorist of the nineteenth century was Husserl. He was important because he tackled the ideas of epistemology, or in other words the question of how to approach true understanding and knowledge. He explained that it was immediate perception which acquainted us directly and therefore because this was the only reality people where aware of it did not matter whether there was another reality people were unaware of. He called this ‘the phenomenological reduction’, in other words there were no realities other than phenomena or observable occurence. Husserl originally started studying logic and numbers. He believed that the numbers zero and one weren’t numbers as well as talking about the difference between small numbers and large numbers. Small numbers could be seen on an intuitive basis however large numbers appeared in the more symbolic realm.
Heidegger focused on the idea of being or existence. He spoke of the Dasein which meant ‘being in the world’. Being was simply a way of people coping and engaging in the world. He highlighted the facticity of Dasein and used the word ‘throwness’ to explain it. This is because people could not choose who there parents were, where they lived, how rich they were they were simply born into being and ‘thrown’ into existence. He noted that there were three parts to Dasein, the past, the present and the future. The future was the most important part as this was the place you would inevitably end up and it is your actions in the present which lead to your future state. The past plays no part because it has already happened and therefore cannot be undone. However despite this everybody inevitably dies which brings emotions such as guilt and anxiety to the surface because it teases you with what you could have been or what you could have done better. Heidegger was a Nazi which helps to emphasize his view that life is meaningless so we may as well do whatever we need to do to deal with the problem of existence. For Heidegger this was taking part in the Nazi movement.
Satre on the other hand, inspired by Heidegger had a similar but contrasting perspective on the same subject. He highlighted how man was a being in which nothingness comes into the world. He explained that the only difference between reality and the simulacrum (dreams, thoughts etc.) was that reality was more intense and vivid. The purest form of being was being without thought as it created being without necessity, being without cause and being without reason. Being for Satre is what precedes and underlines the different aspects of things we encounter in consciousness. Choice is the human condition in which creates a fissure in the world of objects as it is for each person to decide what kind of thing to be. ‘bad faith’ is the way in which humans try to run from their freedom of choice by partaking in morals, society and religion and we strive to reduce ourselves to objects for other people. Satre says that what we really should be doing is accepting responsibilities for our actions opposed to avoiding it by undertaking in these methods. Instead we enter into being solely for the purpose of other people, striving to objectify ourselves by altering the way we present ourselves and observed. We become objects of perception to suit other people.
The final theorist explained is Jacques Derrida. Kenny notes how Husserl explained that there were two types of speech, Constative and performative. Constative is stating a fact for example, it is raining or that is a guitar. Whereas performative speech refers to the subjective classification of objects for example, I name this ship or I will meet you at the train station. Every performative method of speech is haunted by death because it has the ability to interrupt a promise without breaking a promise as a person who has died has not broken a promise because they are dead. This was known as phonocentrism. Derrida attacked this idea with his theory of ‘deferrence’. Deferrence combined the notions of deferring or putting off and difference or being distinct. He explained how words or language are only relevant in relation to each other. Derrida explains this by saying; ‘it is not the name of an object, not the name of some ‘being’ that could be present. And for that reason it is not a concept either’. He labelled this as the ‘the rhetoric, or the ‘refutable paradox’.
Ludwig Wittgenstein attempted to explore the relationship between language and reality and also the limitations of science with his work ‘Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus’. Opposed to making an argument or participating in a wider debate he instead created 7 definitive propositions. These propositions are listed in chronological order and each statement is an extension of the previous statement on a deeper level. In a very ambitious way Wittgenstein claims that Tractatus ascertains ‘”definitive” and “unassailable” truths provide “on all essential points, the final solution” to the problem of philosophy.’ (McManus, 2006, p. 1)
Wittgenstein’s ‘propositions’ are in fact intended to be a ‘picture’ of language opposed to propositions following the structure and discourse of language which aim to use language as a tool for explanation. The idea of this is to ultimately “show what cannot be said” whilst using the medium of language to do so. The Tractatus presents itself as something other than what it says. Wittgenstein explains how his Tractatus is intended to ‘draw a limit ... to the expression of thoughts, [and that] it will therefore only be in language that the limit can be drawn, and what lies on the other side of the limit will simply be nonsense’. Therefore Wittgenstein is presenting more of a representation than simply propositions and this can be explained simply as a picture of an explanation through an explanation. (Rozema, 2002, p. 2)
This book is ultimately an attempt to show how all the truths and certainties we have created through language are actually folly. Wittgenstein goes through a process of explaining and showing (through his implementation of his ‘picture’ of language) how language and thought should make sense by explaining each proposition that he mentions and going through the process of explaining these propositions in much detail. This ultimately ends with the conclusion that in fact language and thought doesn’t make sense because all you end up with are propositions which run out of explanations and logical conclusions. Therefore Wittgenstein is making the claim that language and knowledge are ultimately illogical and completely pointless. (McManus, 2006, p. 1)
William Burroughs has the idea that language is a virus from outer space and it infects us from the beginning of our existence. This is because language in its essence is infectious. We are born, we are then surrounded by language until we learn to speak it and even inside our brain, our thoughts are generally also made up of solely language. He believes that everything is therefore made up of language and that language is in itself a performative act. This is because the action of speaking is obviously an act.
Freddy Ayer also put forward his theories on language but more specifically that of his verification principle. This suggests that language can only be meaningful or ‘make sense’ if it has empirical and verifiable potential. If it doesn’t have scientifically provable or verifiable information then it can be considered metaphysical or in other words complete nonsense. Ayer provides an explanation for this stating how a statement is ‘empirically verifiable if empirical evidence would go towards establishing that the statement is true or false’. Ayer explained this principle through his use of the terms non-contradictory and contradictory. A contradictory statement is a statement that can be verified as definitively false. A non-contradictory statement is a statement which can be verified as provisionally true. Statements which cannot be verified in any way, shape or form can be interpreted as gibberish. Despite this nothing can be pen ultimately ascertained as verifiably one hundred percent correct. Science can say that something is ninety-nine point nine percent likely to occur however it can never attain a one hundred percent certainty about anything.
All the latter parts to this paper express logical positivist philosophies. The act of rejecting language as a means for understanding means to look for understanding through scientific verification or repeatability. Early theorists which began to adopt this methodology include Hume and Descartes and Freud. The Vienna
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