Wittgenstein and Buddha -buddies?




Ludwig Wittgenstein, the famous philosopher, reflected in the posthumously published book "Philosophical Investigations" about the picture above; Is it a hare or duck? 
He meant that we make, or must make, a statement what it is.And I suppose he meant that we often or always has to interpret the world around us. But two different interpretations can both be right! Language and thoughts controls what we see.....  You can compare with the picture of a glass. Half empty or half empty? 


Who decides? Yes, it's you... And whatever you say is right. 

 But you can be aware of what you think. That can say more of yourself than of the glass.... 

 You can be aware of that you always do interpretations of things that happens. 


If you have a pessimistic or a naive point of view, you can be aware of the view and your statements. 
Buddha and Wittgenstein were both aware of that different persons uses different perspectives. 
But Buddha spoke about the "right view" and about that meditations will help you to reach that view. 

 Wittgenstein didn't think that philosophy could give any answer to the big questions. But it could say something about language. 

 Buddha liked to reach beyond language and concepts... 
And perhaps both were right... 

 But my view is that Buddha was happier than Wittgenstein. And also that Buddha would have felt compassion for dear Ludwig....













Comments

  1. Ali Errai29 May 2013 at 11:25

    I kindof stumbled upon your blog, I found your post to be pretty cool and interesting!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tomas Johansson30 May 2013 at 03:06

    Thank you, Ali. I hope you will have a good day in Evans!

    ReplyDelete

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