V-2 - Chapter 9 - The world is all that the case is

[Mark Kohut]

As a failed philosopher, or a philosopher manque as a successful philosopher 
would call me, I'll Hop On Pop Wittgenstein a little like "Mad Dog' did....

Simplification: Wittgenstein was a genius full of such high intellectual 
standards,  that he found fault with just about everyone, including himself 
perhaps most of all. Check out the journals. 
Russell accepted his genius. tried to get him but knew he didn't and helped him 
a lot.
The Tractatus might not have been published then without Russell's intro, 
misrepresenting Witt, if it does,
no matter--except to Witt. As if that work would stand or fall because of 
Russell's intro? 

Robin's links say more than enough, perhaps, for "getting" this line within V. 
It is a famous line as voracious reading plisters know. 

I'll add this. For Wittgenstein, the Tractatus was meant to solve the questions
of language and its relation to the world. The line that The World is All That 
Is the Case meant that Everything in "the world' could be talked about. Combined 
with the 

perhaps-more-famous last line, Whereof We Cannot Speak, We Must Pass Over in 
Silence, it
meant 'metaphysical questions' like When did Time Begin? and What is the Meaning 

of Life?-- to be simplistic about it-- could not be talked about meaningfully.
Meaningful meaning logically, let's say parseable, about the real world of 
rocks,
space and other human beings........

I would say for these in V. who get that message in this chapter, the first 
'logical positivist'
understanding of the line is what they read. There is nothing in the world, it 
tells them, that 
can be logically understood as a "Face in Ev'ry Stone", to use a P example, 
except for a
clear visage outlined on a stone's face, so to speak.

Elsewhere in Witt's life and writing we can encounter what some call 'the 
mystical'... (He carried with him in the trenches of WW1, Tolstoy's very 
religious and 

moralistic later writings....Tolstoy's self-edited version of The Gospels and 
other writings. 

These writings were NOT about 'what was the case', say, but had other reasons to 
be read and 

admired. Like art, including the best fiction, say many commentators but enuff 
bombast 

for now.
[Shakespeare has taught me that 'bombast' was once, part of 'what was the 
case;---padding in
a coat.].



Just call me Little Dog....

In V., here, Robin's links seem to me 






----- Original Message ----
From: Robin Landseadel <robinlandseadel at comcast.net>
To: pynchon-l at waste.org
Sent: Sat, October 30, 2010 10:32:47 AM
Subject: V-2 - Chapter 9 - The world is all that the case is

        I think I'd like to go back home
        And take it easy
        There's a woman that I'd like to get to know
        Living there

        Everybody seems to wonder
        What it's like down here
        I gotta get away from this day-to-day running around,
        Everybody knows this is nowhere.


        Mondaugen remained up in his turret, working diligently at his
    code, taking occasional breaks to stand out alone on the roof and
    wonder if he would ever escape a curse that seemed to have been
    put on him one Fasching: to become surrounded by decadence no
    matter what exotic region, north or south, he wandered into.

Somehow White flight from the inner city comes to mind, someone's personal 
demons following them wherever they go, things one realizes one can't honestly 
continue to blame on "them."

     It couldn't be only Munich, he decided at some point: nor even the fact
    of economic depression. This was a soul-depression which must
    surely infest Europe as it infested this house.

Is the statement "The World is all that is the case" an attempt to drive away 
"irrational" forces, the encroachment of the intellectual wilderness? And does 
it drive away angels as well as demons? Ariel as well as Caliban? Is that the 
source of the "Soul-Depression?" The De-Enchantment of the world?

        One night he was awakened by a disheveled Weissmann, who
    could scarcely stand still for excitement. "Look, look," he cried,
    waving a sheet of paper under Mondaugen's slowly blinking eyes.
    Mondaugen read:

        DIGEWOELDTIMSTEALALENSWFASNDEURFUALRLIKST

        "So," he yawned.

        "It's your code. I've broken it. See: I remove every third letter
    and obtain: GODMEANTNUURK. This rearranged spells Kurt
    Mondaugen."

        "Well, then," Mondaugen snarled. "And who the hell told you
    you could read my mail."

        ''The remainder of the message," Weissmann continued, "now
    reads: DIEWELTISTALLESWASDERFALLIST."

        ''The world is all that the case is," Mondaugen said. ''I've heard
    that somewhere before." A smile began to spread. "Weissmann, for
    shame. Resign your commission, you're in the wrong line of work.
    You'd make a fine engineer: you've been finagling."

        "I swear," Weissmann protested, hurt.

One way I look at this scene is --  "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a 
beautiful friendship" -- as Rick walks into the end titles. It's like W & M are 
sharing a college joke, a little sophomoric prank, a little social glue to carry 

them over to the next novel, which is already in progress. The engineer and the 
warlord team up here, apparently agreeing on one thing:


    2. The Early Wittgenstein
    2.1 Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
        Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus was first published in German
    in 1921, and then translated — by C.K. Ogden, with F. P. Ramsey's
    help — and published in English in 1922. It was later re-translated
    by D. F. Pears and B. F. McGuinness. Coming out of Wittgenstein's
    Notebooks, written in 1914-16, and correspondence with Russell,
    Moore and Keynes, and showing Schopenhauerian and other
    cultural influences, it evolved as a continuation of and reaction to
    Russell and Frege's conceptions of logic and language. Bertrand
    Russell supplied an introduction to the book claiming that it "certainly
    deserves … to be considered an important event in the philosophical
    world." It is fascinating to note that Wittgenstein thought little of
    Russell's introduction, claiming that it was riddled with
    misunderstandings. Later interpretations have attempted to unearth
    the surprising tensions between the introduction and the rest of the
    book (or between Russell's reading of Wittgenstein and
    Wittgenstein's own self-assessment) — usually harping on Russell's
    appropriation of Wittgenstein for his own agenda.

        The Tractatus's structure purports to be representative of its
    internal essence. It is constructed around seven basic propositions,
    numbered by the natural numbers 1-7, with all other paragraphs in
    the text numbered by decimal expansions so that, e.g., paragraph
    1.1 is (supposed to be) a further elaboration on proposition 1, 1.22 is
    an elaboration of 1.2, and so on.

    The seven basic propositions are:


    Ogden translation:

    1. The world is everything that is the case.
    2. What is the case, the fact, is the existence of atomic facts.
    3. The logical picture of the facts is the thought.
    4. The thought is the significant proposition.
    5. Propositions are truth-functions of elementary propositions.
        (An elementary proposition is a truth function of itself.)
    6. The general form of truth-function is [p, ξ, N(ξ)].
        This is the general form of proposition.
    7. Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.


    Pears/McGuinness translation:

    1. The world is all that is the case.
    2. What is the case — a fact — is the existence of states of affairs.
    3. A logical picture of facts is a thought.
    4. A thought is a proposition with sense.
    5. A proposition is a truth-function of elementary propositions.
        (An elementary proposition is a truth function of itself.)
    6. The general form of a truth-function is [p, ξ, N(ξ)].
           This is the general form of a proposition.
    7. What we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence.


        Clearly, the book addresses the central problems of philosophy
    which deal with the world, thought and language, and presents a
    "solution" (as Wittgenstein terms it) of these problems which is
    grounded in logic and in the nature of representation. The world is
    represented by thought, which is a proposition with sense, since
    they all — world, thought, and proposition — share the same logical
    form. Hence, the thought and the proposition can be pictures of the
    facts.

        Starting with a seeming metaphysics, Wittgenstein sees the
    world as consisting of facts (1), rather than the traditional, atomistic
    conception of a world made up of objects. Facts are existent states
    of affairs (2) and states of affairs, in turn, are combinations of
    objects. Objects can fit together in various determinate ways. They
    may have various properties and may hold diverse relations to one
    another. Objects combine with one another according to their logical,
    internal properties. That is to say, an object's internal properties
    determine the possibilities of its combination with other objects; this
    is its logical form. Thus, states of affairs, being comprised of objects
    in combination, are inherently complex. The states of affairs which
    do exist could have been otherwise. This means that states of affairs
    are either actual (existent) or possible. It is the totality of states of
    affairs — actual and possible — that makes up the whole of reality.
    The world is precisely those states of affairs which do exist.

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/wittgenstein/

Now, I won't deny that this is all a bit above and beyond my pay grade, but 
intransigent collector of pointless trivia that I am, can't help but note the 
passing presence of "Mad Dog" Bertie in this footnote that I've attached to our 
endless diatribe. There's the suggestion of some major intellectual battleground 

shared by Russell and Wittgenstein, though it smells a lot like questioning what 

the meaning of the word "is" is, just like Slick Willie did so many moons ago.

Anyone out there with more philosophical kama sutra oil for this little lovefest 

is welcome to join in, I'm going back a few pages and watch civilians get 
bombed.

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    It's too dark
    To put the keys
    In my ignition,

    And the mornin' sun is yet
    To climb my hood ornament.

    But before too long I might
    See those flashing red lights
    Look out, mama,
    'cause I'm comin' home tonight.