Date: Sat, 01 Apr 2000 07:40:19 +0800
Subject: Re: PKF: Would Feyerabend have defended Wittgenstein and Whorf against 


So, Alexander, do you now regret the single, throwaway line in your narrative "You
cannot expect more from a man who supports terrorists"? While it served its
provocative purpose, it also meant that the discussion has run very far afield of
(what I take to be) your original questions and issues. What say I paraphrase your
narrative, in the attempt to provoke the activity of making meanings more directly
related to the work of PKF? Here's my best attempt (and apologies for the liberty
of surgery on your text):


     Chomsky has called Wittgenstein a "language-parasite." Wittgenstein
     spent his adult life on the edge of suicide, trying to clear the way to
     clear thinking. Would Chomsky say to Wittgenstein's ghost:
     "Wittgenstein, I would have been happier if you had denied your human
     impulses about language and life, and then, being so frustrated because
     of the pain of this denial, that you had done your suicide"? Chomsky´s
     criticism of Whorf has been equally biased, and as Whorf was a
     linguistic and behavioural relativist in a very similar vein to
     Wittgenstein, except that their methods of explication differed, surely
     Feyerabend would have come to Wittgenstein´s and Whorf´s defense had he
     known that Chomsky had belittled them, and in such false terms?

Hmm, much less zingy and provocative, I must admit - but perhaps it gives us a
chance to get back to the question in the title. What would Feyerabend's attitude
have been toward these critiques?

David

PS I take John Fox's point - if we must censor ourselves, even beyond the point of
being absolutely clear, just in case someone uses our words maliciously, how shall
we speak at all?


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