Posted by Jan den Breejen on March 14, 2001 at 04:12:38:
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951): source of inspiration for Lewis Carroll?
In Wittgenstein's work a main theme is that he perceives things which he cannot put into words, and so could not be understood by other people; and (quite fatalistic) he remarks that therefore 'one should be silent on these issues'. This explains his focus on linguistic issues. He seems to get stuck with this problem; saying that his work can only be understood by people who had already had similar idea's themselves; 'Its not a course book'. Clearly this category of humans didn't contain so many people and these people would be considered 'different' by the (non-idiosyncratic) remainder of humanity.
The other - related - theme in Wittgensteins works is that of the problem that reality is not and cannot ever be an objective thing; allways being distorted by the mind (character) of the person looking at it. In Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland we find loads of examples of Alice not understanding the (apparently) bizarre statements by these schizophrenic looking creatures she meets. Like the caterpillar; she says to this little animal that she wants to be bigger than 4 inches. To which the caterpillar remarks; 'There is nothing wrong with a height of 4 inches; its an excellent height!' - he himself being……4 inches long.
Throughout the works of Wittgenstein we feel the loneliness of -as he called it - being caught in the box of his skull' never being able to have 'real' contact with other people and never fully sharing perceptions; people allways perceiving things in a different way.
Jan