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The Transcendental Ordinary

Wittgenstein to Badiou
  • Patrick McGee
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Abstract

In a note published in 1932 under the heading “Tolstoy,” Wittgenstein considered the view that a thing (Gegenstand) is important only if it can be understood by everyone. While inclined to agree with this proposition, he saw one stumbling block to its truth. The problem was not that in order to understand such a significant and important thing it was necessary to master a specialized language or some kind of technical knowledge, but rather that there might be a conflict between understanding certain kinds of propositions and human desire. In other words, it might be difficult to understand something that you don’t want to understand when it conflicts with what you want to believe is true. He concluded that the most obvious thing—I would say, truth—may offer the greatest resistance to understanding. In other words, when truth is communicated, the will may resist more than the intellect.1

Keywords

Common Sense Ordinary Language Language Game Family Resemblance Psychotic Episode 
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Notes

  1. 1.
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© Patrick McGee 2009

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