Quite right, the ghost of Wittgenstein. These utterances are moves in language games. A pawn is a nonsensical entity within the game of checkers. However, that doesn't mean a pawn is "meaningless." It was a being constructed for a particular purpose within the game of chess. It is an illusion that the game of chess and the pawn object(being) are separable. Chess cannot exist without pawns and a pawn cannot exist without chess. The operation of plucking a pawn out of the game of chess is an invalid operation. Thus, we cannot even speak of pawns outside of chess--we must remain silent.
In other words, you can't even say my utterances are meaningless "outside" the system in which they were constructed because they cannot exist outside the system. A pawn in a game of checkers is not a pawn. A pawn in your pocket may resemble a pawn, but it does not function like a pawn because it is not in a game of chess...thus it is not a pawn because it cannot do as a pawn does.
I appreciate your philosophy, but from my standpoint, it is unnecessarily muddying the waters.
Some people believe they are living for things that are objectively false. Just imagine a grocery clerk who believes he will someday become the king of France--in 2022, which makes Descartes original comment about this seem even more absurd.
Every day he does his mundane job with unparalleled enthusiasm. He is awarded employee of the month every single month.
One day, an ambitious coworker asks him how he is able to do his boring job with such high energy--what's his secret?
"I am just biding my time until I become the king of France," the madman replies. "I'm not a grocery clerk...I'm a future king! Every bag I fill with groceries is but one step further towards my glorious coronation."
And so it is with all who think they are going somewhere spectacular with their lives. The bleak march to the grave is enchanted by dreams of an end that cannot be.
My "utterances" are not philosophical, but descriptions of what I observe to be happening around and within me. If you want to understand what I mean, you gotta play my game.
I like your comment about the coconut man. Yes, it's true that delusions can have a survival advantage. In fact, I would argue that delusions are not errors, but survival adaptations. Sometimes we just don't know what people are trying to keep alive. I know people who try to keep alive an idea of themselves in spite of their own physical body.
In other words, you can't even say my utterances are meaningless "outside" the system in which they were constructed because they cannot exist outside the system. A pawn in a game of checkers is not a pawn. A pawn in your pocket may resemble a pawn, but it does not function like a pawn because it is not in a game of chess...thus it is not a pawn because it cannot do as a pawn does.
I appreciate your philosophy, but from my standpoint, it is unnecessarily muddying the waters.
Some people believe they are living for things that are objectively false. Just imagine a grocery clerk who believes he will someday become the king of France--in 2022, which makes Descartes original comment about this seem even more absurd.
Every day he does his mundane job with unparalleled enthusiasm. He is awarded employee of the month every single month.
One day, an ambitious coworker asks him how he is able to do his boring job with such high energy--what's his secret?
"I am just biding my time until I become the king of France," the madman replies. "I'm not a grocery clerk...I'm a future king! Every bag I fill with groceries is but one step further towards my glorious coronation."
And so it is with all who think they are going somewhere spectacular with their lives. The bleak march to the grave is enchanted by dreams of an end that cannot be.
My "utterances" are not philosophical, but descriptions of what I observe to be happening around and within me. If you want to understand what I mean, you gotta play my game.
I like your comment about the coconut man. Yes, it's true that delusions can have a survival advantage. In fact, I would argue that delusions are not errors, but survival adaptations. Sometimes we just don't know what people are trying to keep alive. I know people who try to keep alive an idea of themselves in spite of their own physical body.