I read: “…philosophers are no nearer to the meaning of ‘Reality’ than Plato got, ….”. What a strange situation. How extraordinary that Plato could have got even as far as he did! Or that we could not get any further! Was it because Plato was so extremely clever?
–Wittgenstein, Culture and Value, 1931.
If I ever do return to philosophy as a career I have no doubt Wittgenstein will have a large part to do with it. And he would be horrified that he is having this kind of effect. I must not have truly understood what he’s saying, if I still think philosophy is worthwhile. But it is exactly because I have not truly understood it (and what many others have said) that I want to do philosophy. Or does he expect us to accept his warnings without testing the waters for ourselves?
At any rate, I acknowledge my previous mistake in attempting to evaluate the “progress” of philosophy.
Wittgenstein has that affect on people. I was about to leave a reproachful comment about this very subject — the progress of philosophy — and had the good fortune to follow the trackback here. I think if anyone knew where his towel was in the history of philosophy, Wittgenstein did.