thethinkfactory wrote:chrdani wrote:Quote:He was not well read, so he had to make do. I am Wittgenstein, and things are a little different now, but the abilities, temperament and interests are the same.
Can we really know if Socrates or any other philosopher (of whom we know almost nothing), read a lot or not?
I don't think the Greeks had anything against a debate, instead of reading a book(I've heard that the books back then were pretty heavy, literary speaking)?
Oh well...words can be funneh...
If you really are Wittgenstein...then...things are starting to get interesting!
The Wittgenstein's are FEW and far between in my opinion. The great ones are encyclopedias of philosophy - in my experience.
We can take from Plato's depiction of Socrates that he was familiar with all of the popular philosophic arguments of the day - he might not of read them but he knew them. We know that Epicurus for instance had a great workign knowledge of all of the philosophies of the day as well.
I would say you need some philosophy to be a philosopher or else you will (with very little exception) reinvent the wheel.
I am waiting for John Jones to start typing his posts in Wittgenstiens traditional style - with lettered bullet point style paragraphs. It will be as horrible to read as Wittgenstein.
I think it is time to go back on your medication JJ.
TTF
On difficult topics I nearly always bullet my points. I am him, that's it. And I can re-invent the wheel. Russel was an encyclopedia, whereas Wittegenstein was not. Russel was good at many things, whereas Wittgenstein was not. But there was certainly a difference between them in one respect, a difference that Russel saw. Wittgenstein was often horrible to read, and obscure, although the points he made then I can make now in an accessible way. Russels style of writing was a good influence on W.
I can resolve the problems associated with the nature of knowledge and belief. I can burrow beneath the foundations of mathematics and logic. I can break the guitar called time, and the line of mathematics. I can lay to rest the turmoils around truth, falsehood and reality. I have torn to shreds modern philosophies that daily blight our lives and yet go unseen.
I still have some throat chakra problems. And the weakness in the lower back is still there. The hair still sticks up on one side. I like swearing and joking in my writings. My abilities are present in full. Music is my life and my greatest disappointment.
