Home How to Read Wittgenstein as x: An Exercise in Selective Interpretation
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

How to Read Wittgenstein as x: An Exercise in Selective Interpretation

  • Thomas J. Brommage

    Sam Houston State University, USA;

     EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: September 18, 2023
Become an author with De Gruyter Brill
Author Information Explore this Subject
The Philosophy of Humor Yearbook
From the journal The Philosophy of Humor Yearbook Volume 4 Issue 1

Abstract

I wish here to outline a new methodology for the history of philosophy, which is inspired from the practice of scholarship on Wittgenstein; I will call it “selective interpretation.” It is a method by which an historical figure is read so as to make any philosopher sound like they completely agree with one’s own personal stand on philosophical issues. First, I seek to systematize a set of rules which will aid one in reading the text any damn way one pleases. The next section lays out these rules, outlining the necessary tools to read any text exactly as you want it to read. In the rest of the paper, I plan to give a few specific examples of selective interpretation of the early Wittgenstein: reading the Tractatus so that it sounds like David Hume, Immanuel Kant and Arthur Schopenhauer, respectively. I hope that my analysis here will be therapeutic to Wittgenstein scholars. And I hope also to help other historians of philosophy come to understand this daring methodological proposal.

Keywords: Wittgenstein; selective; interpretation; humor; parody

About the author

Thomas J. Brommage

Sam Houston State University, USA;

References

Anscombe, G. E. M. 1959. An Introduction to Wittgenstein’s Tractatus. London: St. Augustine’s Press.Search in Google Scholar

Carnap, Rudolf. 1959. “The Elimination of Metaphysics Through Logical Analysis of Language.” In Logical Positivism, edited by A.J. Ayer, 60 – 81. New York: The Free Press.Search in Google Scholar

Conant, James. 1989. “Must We Show What We Cannot Say?” In The Senses of Stanley Cavell, edited by Richard Fleming and Michael Payne, 242 – 83. Lewisburg, PA: Fogelin, Robert J. 1987. Wittgenstein: The Arguments of the Philosophers. New York: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar

Janik, Allan, and Stephen Toulmin. 1973. Wittgenstein’s Vienna. Chicago, IL: I.R. Dee.Search in Google Scholar

Kant, Immanuel. 2001 (1783). Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics That Will Be Able to Come Forward as Science. Translated by James W. Ellington. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett.Search in Google Scholar

Kripke, Saul. 1982. Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Lear, Jonathan. 1982. “Leaving the World Alone.” Journal of Philosophy 79(7): 382 – 403.10.2307/2026214Search in Google Scholar

Russell, Bertrand. 1918. “The Philosophy of Logical Atomism I-II.” The Monist 28(4): 495 – 527.10.5840/monist19182843Search in Google Scholar

Stenius, Erik. 1960. Wittgenstein’s Tractatus: A Critical Exposition of its Main Lines of Thought. Oxford: Blackwell.Search in Google Scholar

Williams, Bernard. 1973. “Wittgenstein and Idealism.” Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 7: 76 – 95.10.1017/S135824610000028XSearch in Google Scholar

Wittgenstein, Ludwig. 1961 (1921). Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. Translated by David Pears and Brian McGuinness. New York: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar

Published Online: 2023-09-18
Published in Print: 2023-09-18

© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Titlepages
  2. Titlepages
  3. Table of Contents
  4. Articles
  5. Vico’s Theory of Humor and Laughter
  6. Laughter as Natural Piety: John Dewey, Humor, and the Religious
  7. Understanding Humor: Four Conceptual Approaches to the Elusive Subject
  8. Reality Is a Joke
  9. What Makes a Joke Bad: Enthymemes and the Pragmatics of Humor
  10. It’s Okay to Laugh at Fat Bastard: Ridicule, Satire, and Immoralism
  11. Oppression, Subversive Humor, and Unstable Politics
  12. What's the Deal with Sophists? Critical Thought and Humor in Ancient Philosophy and Contemporary Comedy
  13. Discussion: Article for Further Debate
  14. Discussion: Article for Further Debate   Edited by John Marmysz
  15. What’s So Funny About Golf?
  16. Artificial Intelligence, Phenomenology, and The Molyneux Problem
  17. A Kernel of Truth: Outlining an Epistemology of Jokes
  18. Philosophical Satire and Criticism
  19. Philosophical Satire and Criticism Edited by Steven Gimbel
  20. How to Read Wittgenstein as x: An Exercise in Selective Interpretation
  21. Humor in Philosophy Education
  22. Humor in Philosophy Education Edited by Christine A. James
  23. Quantifying Laughter in International Research
  24. Symposium
  25. Symposium     Edited by Steven Gimbel   Robert R. Clewis, Foreword by Noël Carroll, Kant’s Humorous Writings: An Illustrated Guide. Bloomsbury Academic, 2020. Pp. xxiv + 256   Critics
  26. Prosecuting the Case against Clewis
  27. All in Good Taste
  28. Is Kant Seriously Funny?
  29. Clewis on Kant’s Humor
  30. Author’s Response
  31. Author's Response
  32. Humor and the Arts: Taking Kant Seriously
  33. Book Reviews
  34. Book Reviews Edited by Lydia Amir With Pierre Destrée (Ancient and Medieval Philosophy) and John Marmysz (Modern and Contemporary Philosophy)
  35.    
  36. Call for Papers, Book Reviews, Guidelines
  37. Call for Papers, Book Reviews, Guidelines
  38.    
https://doi.org/10.1515/phhumyb-2023-0012
Keywords for this article
Wittgenstein; selective; interpretation; humor; parody

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Titlepages
  2. Titlepages
  3. Table of Contents
  4. Articles
  5. Vico’s Theory of Humor and Laughter
  6. Laughter as Natural Piety: John Dewey, Humor, and the Religious
  7. Understanding Humor: Four Conceptual Approaches to the Elusive Subject
  8. Reality Is a Joke
  9. What Makes a Joke Bad: Enthymemes and the Pragmatics of Humor
  10. It’s Okay to Laugh at Fat Bastard: Ridicule, Satire, and Immoralism
  11. Oppression, Subversive Humor, and Unstable Politics
  12. What's the Deal with Sophists? Critical Thought and Humor in Ancient Philosophy and Contemporary Comedy
  13. Discussion: Article for Further Debate
  14. Discussion: Article for Further Debate   Edited by John Marmysz
  15. What’s So Funny About Golf?
  16. Artificial Intelligence, Phenomenology, and The Molyneux Problem
  17. A Kernel of Truth: Outlining an Epistemology of Jokes
  18. Philosophical Satire and Criticism
  19. Philosophical Satire and Criticism Edited by Steven Gimbel
  20. How to Read Wittgenstein as x: An Exercise in Selective Interpretation
  21. Humor in Philosophy Education
  22. Humor in Philosophy Education Edited by Christine A. James
  23. Quantifying Laughter in International Research
  24. Symposium
  25. Symposium     Edited by Steven Gimbel   Robert R. Clewis, Foreword by Noël Carroll, Kant’s Humorous Writings: An Illustrated Guide. Bloomsbury Academic, 2020. Pp. xxiv + 256   Critics
  26. Prosecuting the Case against Clewis
  27. All in Good Taste
  28. Is Kant Seriously Funny?
  29. Clewis on Kant’s Humor
  30. Author’s Response
  31. Author's Response
  32. Humor and the Arts: Taking Kant Seriously
  33. Book Reviews
  34. Book Reviews Edited by Lydia Amir With Pierre Destrée (Ancient and Medieval Philosophy) and John Marmysz (Modern and Contemporary Philosophy)
  35.    
  36. Call for Papers, Book Reviews, Guidelines
  37. Call for Papers, Book Reviews, Guidelines
  38.    
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 19.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/phhumyb-2023-0012/html
Scroll to top button