[David Lehman]

Wittgenstein's Ladder La escalera de Wittgenstein

Wittgenstein's Ladder
"My propositions serve as elucidations in the following way: anyone who understands them eventually recognizes them as nonsensical, when he has used them -- as steps -- to climb up beyond them. (He must, so to speak, throw away the ladder after he has climbed up it.)" -- Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus

1. The first time I met Wittgenstein, I was late. "The traffic was murder," I explained. He spent the next forty-five minutes analyzing this sentence. Then he was silent. I wondered why he had chosen a water tower for our meeting. I also wondered how I would leave, since the ladder I had used to climb up here had fallen to the ground. 2. Wittgenstein served as a machine-gunner in the Austrian Army in World War I. Before the war he studied logic in Cambridge with Bertrand Russell. Having inherited his father's fortune (iron and steel), he gave away his money, not to the poor, whom it would corrupt, but to relations so rich it would not thus affect them. 3. On leave in Vienna in August 1918 he assembled his notebook entries into the Tractatus, Since it provided the definitive solution to all the problems of philosophy, he decided to broaden his interests. He became a schoolteacher, then a gardener's assistant at a monastery near Vienna. He dabbled in architecture.

4. He returned to Cambridge in 1929, receiving his doctorate for the Tractatus, "a work of genius," in G. E. Moore's opinion. Starting in 1930 he gave a weekly lecture and led a weekly discussion group. He spoke without notes amid long periods of silence. Afterwards, exhausted, he went to the movies and sat in the front row. He liked Carmen Miranda. 5. He would visit Russell's rooms at midnight and pace back and forth "like a caged tiger. On arrival, he would announce that when he left he would commit suicide. So, in spite of getting sleepy, I did not like to turn him out." On such a night, after hours of dead silence, Russell said, "Wittgenstein, are you thinking about logic or about yours sins?" "Both," he said, and resumed his silence. 6. Philosophy was an activity, not a doctrine. "Solipsism, when its implications are followed out strictly, coincides with pure realism," he wrote. Dozens of dons wondered what he meant. Asked how he knew that "this color is red," he smiled and said, "because I have learnt English." There were no other questions. Wittgenstein let the silence gather. Then he said, "this itself is the answer." 7. Religion went beyond the boundaries of language, yet the impulse to run against "the walls of our cage," though "perfectly, absolutely useless," was not to be dismissed. A. J. Ayer, one of Oxford's ablest minds, was puzzled. If logic cannot prove a nonsensical conclusion, why didn't Wittgenstein abandon it, "along with the rest of metaphysics, as not worth serious attention, except perhaps for sociologists"? 8. Because God does not reveal himself in this world, and "the value of this work," Wittgenstein wrote, "is that it shows how little is achieved when these problems are solved." When I quoted Gertrude Stein's line

about Oakland, "there's no there there," he nodded. Was there a there, I persisted. His answer: Yes and No. It was as impossible to feel another's person's pain as to suffer another person's toothache. 9. At Cambridge the dons quoted him reverently. I asked them what they thought was his biggest contribution to philosophy. "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent," one said. Others spoke of his conception of important nonsense. But I liked best the answer John Wisdom gave: "His asking of the question `Can one play chess without the queen?'" 10. Wittgenstein preferred American detective stories to British philosophy. He liked lunch and didn't care what it was, "so long as it was always the same," noted Professor Malcolm of Cornell, a former student, in whose house in Ithaca Wittgenstein spent hours doing handyman chores. He was happy then. There was no need to say a word.

La Escalera de Wittgenstein
Mis proposiciones son esclarecedoras de este modo; que quien me comprende acaba por reconocer que carecen de sentido, siempre que el que comprenda haya salido a travs de ellas fuera de ellas. (Debe, pues, por as decirlo, tirar la escalera despus de haberla subido.) Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus (Versin espaola de Enrique Tierno Galvn)

1. La primera vez que vi a Wittgenstein, llegu con retraso. "El trfico era horrible," expliqu. Se pas los siguientes cuarenta y cinco minutos

analizando esta oracin. Luego se call. Yo me preguntaba por qu haba elegido una torre de agua para nuestro encuentro. Tambin me preguntaba cmo me ira, ya que la escalera que haba utilizado para subir hasta all se haba cado al suelo. 2. Wittgenstein sirvi como fusilero ametrallador en el ejrcito austriaco durante la Primera Guerra Mundial. Antes de la guerra estudi lgica en Cambridge con Bertrand Russell. Habiendo heredado la fortuna de su padre (hierro y acero), regalaba su dinero, no a los pobres, a los que corrompera, sino a conocidos tan ricos que no les afectara. 3. De permiso en Viena en agosto de 1918 reuni las anotaciones de sus cuadernos en el Tractatus. Puesto que proporcionaba la solucin definitiva a todos los problemas de la filosofa, decidi ampliar sus intereses. Se hizo maestro de escuela, despus ayudante de jardinero en un monasterio cerca de Viena. Se interes ligeramente por la arquitectura. 4. Regres a Cambridge en 1929, donde obtuvo su doctorado por el Tractatus, "la obra de un genio," segn G. E. Moore. A partir de 1930 empez a impartir una clase por semana y dirigi un grupo de discusin semanal. Hablaba sin notas entre largos perodos de silencio. Luego, exhausto, se iba al cine y se sentaba en primera fila. Le gustaba Carmen Miranda.

5. Sola visitar los aposentos de Russell a medianoche y se paseaba de un lado a otro "como un tigre enjaulado. Al llegar, anunciaba que a su partida se suicidara. As, a pesar de que me entraba sueo, no quera echarle." En una de esas noches, despus de varias horas de silencio total, Russell dijo, "Wittgenstein, ests pensando en la lgica o en tus pecados?" "En ambas cosas ," dijo, y sigui con su silencio. 6. La filosofa era una actividad y no una doctrina. "El solipsismo, cuando se siguen sus implicaciones estrictamente, coincide con el realismo puro," escribi. Docenas de catedrticos se preguntaban qu quera decir. Cuando se le pregunt cmo saba que "este color es rojo," sonri y dijo, "porque he estudiado ingls." No hubo ms preguntas. Wittgenstein dej que se formara un silencio. Luego dijo, "esto en s es la respuesta." 7. La religin trascenda los lmites del lenguaje, ahora bien, el impulso de echarse contra "las paredes de nuestra jaula," bien que "perfecta y absolutamente intil," no deba de desestimarse. A. J. Ayer, una de las mentes ms capaces de Oxford, estaba perplejo. Si la lgica no puede probar una conclusin absurda, por qu no la abandonaba Wittgenstein, "junto con los dems metafsicos, como indigna de una atencin seria, quiz acaso para los socilogos"? 8. Porque Dios no se revela en este mundo, y "el valor de su obra," escribi Wittgenstein, "radica en que muestra qu poco se consigue cuando estos problemas

se solventan." Cuando cit la lnea de Gertrude Stein sobre Oakland, "no hay un all all," asinti con la cabeza. Si hubiera un all, insist. Su respuesta: S y No. Era tan imposible sentir el dolor de otra persona como soportar el dolor de muelas de otra persona. 9. En Cambridge los catedrticos lo citaban con reverencia. Les pregunt cul crean que era su mayor contribucin a la filosofa. "De lo que no se puede hablar, mejor es callarse," dijo uno. Otros hablaron de su concepto de la absurdidad importante. Pero la que ms me gusto fue la respuesta de John Wisdom: "El hecho de que pregunte Se puede jugar al ajedrez sin reina?'" 10. Wittgenstein prefera los relatos de detective americanos a la filosofa britnica. Le gustaba el almuerzo y no le importaba lo que fuera, "con tal de que fuera siempre igual," apunt el catedrtico Malcolm de Cornell, antiguo estudiante, en cuya casa en Ithaca Wittgenstein se pasaba horas haciendo chapuzas. Entonces era feliz. No haba necesitad de decir ninguna palabra.

[Traducci de Manuel Hamerlinck]

Fuente: http://seriealfa.com/tigre/tigre13/DLehman.htm