To Not Understand, but Not Misunderstand: Wittgenstein on Shakespeare
In Sascha Bru, Wolfgang Huemer & Daniel Steuer (eds.), Wittgenstein Reading. Berlin: pp. 39-53 (2013)
Abstract
Wittgenstein's lack of sympathy for Shakespeare's works has been well noted by George Steiner and Harold Bloom among others. Wittgenstein writes in 1950, for instance: "It seems to me as though his pieces are, as it were, enormous sketches, not paintings; as though they were dashed off by someone who could permit himself anything, so to speak. And I understand how someone may admire this & call it supreme art, but I don't like it." Of course, the animosity of one great mind for another has its own interest. But the interest here is increased by two factors: (1) Wittgenstein's brief but specific critique of Shakespeare's similes, of interest particularly since he identifies his own philosophical strength half-deprecatingly but still seriously as one of crafting beautiful similes; and (2) Wittgenstein's and Shakespeare's shared concern, as revealed in Stanley Cavell's writings, with the human impulse to skepticism. The present paper considers the importance of these two factors in weighing Wittgenstein's judgment. It suggests that Wittgenstein's frequent charge that Shakespeare is "completely unrealistic" is not a misunderstanding of the Bard (Wittgenstein distinguishes his "failure to understand" from others' willingness to misunderstand Shakespeare) but rather an expression of Wittgenstein's anxiety over Shakespeare's wholly original use of language to represent the sound of the raw motives to skepticism.Author's Profile
My notes
Similar books and articles
Wittgenstein's Remarks on William Shakespeare.Derek McDougall - 2016 - Philosophy and Literature 40 (1):297-308.
Did Wittgenstein Write on Shakespeare?Joachim Schulte - 2013 - Nordic Wittgenstein Review 2 (1):1-32.
Wittgenstein's Enigmatic Remarks on Shakespeare.Wolfgang Andreas Huemer - forthcoming - In Craig Bourne & Emily Caddick Bourne (eds.), The Routledge Companion to Shakespeare and Philosophy. London, New York: Routledge.
The Character of a Name: Wittgenstein's Remarks on Shakespeare.Wolfgang Huemer - 2013 - In Sascha Bru, Wolfgang Huemer & Daniel Steuer (eds.), Wittgenstein Reading. de Gruyter. pp. 23-37.
Misreadings: Steiner and Lewis on Wittgenstein and Shakespeare.Wolfgang Huemer - 2012 - Philosophy and Literature 36 (1):229-237.
Invited Paper: Did Wittgenstein Write on Shakespeare?Joachim Schulte - 2013 - Nordic Wittgenstein Review 2 (1):7-32.
Wittgenstein's Critique of Moore in On Certainty.Erlend Winderen Finke Owesen - 2017 - Nordic Wittgenstein Review 6 (2):71-84.
Wittgenstein, Schopenhauer, and Ethics.A. Phillips Griffiths - 1973 - Royal Institute of Philosophy Lectures 7:96-116.
A Defence of Wittgenstein's Private Language Argument.Kichang Nam - 1993 - Dissertation, Michigan State University
Recent Work of WittgensteinPerspectives on the Philosophy of Wittgenstein.Wittgenstein: Language and World.Wittgenstein: To Follow a Rule.Wittgenstein and his Times.Wittgenstein's Tractatus: An Introduction.Ludwig Wittgenstein: Personal Recollections.Wittgenstein. [REVIEW]Ian McFetridge, Irving Block, John V. Canfield, Steven H. Holtzmann, Christopher M. Leich, Brian McGuinness, H. O. Mounce, Rush Rhees & George Henrik Von Wright - 1984 - Philosophical Quarterly 34 (134):69.
Analytics
Added to PP
2018-09-17
Downloads
259 (#47,628)
6 months
31 (#41,093)
2018-09-17
Downloads
259 (#47,628)
6 months
31 (#41,093)
Historical graph of downloads
Author's Profile
Citations of this work
Wittgenstein's Enigmatic Remarks on Shakespeare.Wolfgang Andreas Huemer - forthcoming - In Craig Bourne & Emily Caddick Bourne (eds.), The Routledge Companion to Shakespeare and Philosophy. London, New York: Routledge.
References found in this work
Wanting to Say Something: Aspect-Blindness and Language.William Day - 2010 - In William Day & VĂctor J. Krebs (eds.), Seeing Wittgenstein Anew. Cambridge University Press.
Misreadings: Steiner and Lewis on Wittgenstein and Shakespeare.Wolfgang Huemer - 2012 - Philosophy and Literature 36 (1):229-237.
Wittgenstein, Tolstoy, and Shakespeare.Peter B. Lewis - 2005 - Philosophy and Literature 29 (2):241-255.