What, Why & How do we Know ?
Cheryl Misak’s biography of “Frank Ramsey – A Sheer Excess of Powers” is proving to be an excellent read. It’s a 500 page tome and is a beautifully presented academic reference work in terms of front and end materials. The main narrative is broken only by occasional elaboration in text box asides, contributed by recognised … Continue reading “Ramsey, Wittgenstein, Gödel and the rest.”
I’ve posted links to the two papers below, more than once before in various contexts, but I wanted to capture a couple of meta-thoughts when I ran across them again today. [Given the general state of link-rot on the web beyond a decade, or less in many cases, it is fascinating that an article from … Continue reading “Ramsey and Wittgenstein in Prospect”
As part of my recap / catch-up on Wittgenstein I’m at last reading Ray Monk’s “Duty of Genius“, much referenced in other readings of course, but reading the original for the first time. This is my mid-point review (his 1929 return to Cambridge) to capture my own agenda points with notes under 3 headings: The … Continue reading “Wittgenstein’s Commitment to Philosophy”
I’d been taking the good sense of Wittgenstein for granted in recent years having read his main works and read a great deal about him in other contexts. The only ongoing task remaining for me has been to put the sense into practical use in everyday life and policy, – what’s it best for me … Continue reading “Wittgenstein With Everything.”
I mentioned noting that one of Rebecca Goldstein’s earlier works was Incompleteness – the Proof and Paradox of Kurt Gödel. Since Gödel is an existing interest of mine, and Goldstein’s writing has never let me down yet, it was a no-brainer to obtain a copy. (I’ve since also obtained a copy of her fiction The Mind-Body Problem – … Continue reading “Comprehensively paradoxical Gödel – Rebecca Goldstein”
I came to F.H.Bradley through Bertrand Russell’s metaphysical ruminations only 5 or 6 years ago (hat-tip Stephen Mumford). It was a conscious effort, because I’d pretty much given-up on Russell after the debacle of Principia Mathematica, from which co-author Whitehead seemed to have learned, but from which Russell appeared never to have recovered (nor from … Continue reading “Bradley’s Appearance & Reality”
A regular theme here is that those investigating the limits to knowledge often get close to “madness”, even tip over into paranoia or worse and do so either temporarily or irrecoverably depending on the kind of support and understanding they get, or the others that become collateral damage. Such a recurring theme, that I have … Continue reading “4 Suicides and 2 Murders”
I completed Karl Sigmund – “Exact Thinking in Demented Times – The Vienna Circle and the Epic Quest for the Foundations of Science” over the weekend. I’ve mentioned the read a few times already, here for example: It’s Just Reading and Writing, Right? (Feb 13th) Karl Sigmund and Demented Thinking (Jan 3rd) The final line … Continue reading “Denial in Demented Thinking”