James C. Klagge, "Wittgenstein's Artillery: Philosophy as Poetry" (MIT Press, 2021)
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What is the opening context and why is the episode sponsored by “What’s Your Map”?
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Hello and welcome to New Books in Philosophy, a podcast channel with the New Books Network. I'm Carrie Figdoor, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Iowa. And I'm co-host of the channel along with Robert Talise, Sarah Tyson, and Malcolm Keating. Together we bring you conversations with philosophers about their new books in a wide range of areas of contemporary philosophical inquiry. Today's interview is with Jim Clogga. Who is a professor of philosophy at Virginia Tech? His new book, Wittgenstein's Artillery Philosophy as Poetry, is just out from the MIT Press. Они шурили до філософі а поетрі. What could Ludwig Wittgenstein have meant by this? What was the context for this odd remark?
In his new book, Klager provides a perspective on Wittgenstein as a person and how his life intersected with his work. In particular, in the transition from his early Tractatus Logico Philosophicus to to the later philosophical investigations. Based on private notebooks and memoirs by some of Wittgenstein's students, Klager sees Wittgenstein's interactions with his students as gradually prodding him to come to grips with the problem of how to influence the frames of mind that people take to philosophical problems. Poetry, along with parables, similes, and other imaginative presentations, exemplify a way of addressing these non cognitive attitudes. And in the end, Wickenstein conceded that he was not entirely successful in his efforts.
This is a fascinating exploration of Wickenstein as a person. and its intersection with his work. Let's turn to the interview. Hello, Jim Claga. Welcome to New Books in Philosophy.
Hi.
Hi. Um, so I'm really А екстід тобі таки батьорну бук Викінштайн з Артилерії. Philosophy is poetry. Um, before we get to the book, we'd like to start with a little bit of background about the author, right? Um, so can you tell us a bit about yourself and You know, how you came to become a philosopher, and then how you got to, you know, sort of focusing on Wittgenstein, and then, you know. How this particular book is. came about.
Okay. I grew up in a suburb of Cleveland and I would say maybe the most formative experience in high school was being on the debate team. And in fact, I did that in college as well for a couple of years. Uh I finally had to give it up because it was taking up so much time. I wasn't doing so well in my classes. So that was a a good choice. But nevertheless, it was a uh uh a very formative experience, the sort of idea of doing research, of doing uh argumentation. Um speaking in public and so forth. I thought I would be a lawyer, but uh turned out to be good preparation for being a philosopher also and a professor.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the opening context and why is the episode sponsored by “What’s Your Map”?
0:00–6:32
2
How does James Klagge introduce his background and the central question about Wittgenstein’s “philosophy as poetry”?
6:32–12:51
3
What does the “artillery” metaphor mean and how does it relate to Wittgenstein’s war experience?
12:51–20:22
4
How did Wittgenstein’s shift from the Tractatus to the Philosophical Investigations influence his use of poetic forms?
20:22–28:49
5
In what ways did Wittgenstein’s interactions with his students act as “artillery spotting” for his philosophical aims?
28:49–37:01
6
Why does Klagge describe Wittgenstein’s later work as an “evangelical” phase and what role does poetry play?
37:01–45:41
7
What new projects and unpublished materials is Klagge working on related to Wittgenstein’s diaries and memoirs?
45:41–53:50
8
How does the conversation wrap up and what future directions does Klagge suggest for Wittgenstein scholarship?
53:50–1:02:48
Speakers
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