WAB: "Fragments" |
The audio contribution available from this site is a recording of
James Conant: Family Resemblance, Composite Photography, and Unity of Concept: Goethe, Galton, Wittgenstein,
lecture given on 15.9.2005 at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Bergen.
Publication on this site with kind permission from the author (2005.9.29).
James Conant: Family Resemblance, Composite Photography, and Unity of Concept: Goethe, Galton, Wittgenstein
Abstract: The picture [to be provided] was in an album of photographs
that the philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein carried around with him
everywhere he went. It was originally assumed to be a photograph of a woman,
possibly a relative of his. In fact, it is not exactly “a photograph” nor
“of” “a woman”, on any conventional understanding of any of these words.
What exactly it is - and how we should understand what it is that such
pictures represent - is one of the central topics of this talk. The
picture was made by Wittgenstein himself; and his interest in such
representations was tied to his interest in certain ideas of Johann Wolfgang
Goethe’s and Francis Galton’s. Why Goethe would have been interested in the
possibility of such a picture, why Galton was, and why Wittgenstein wanted
to be, while refusing their understanding of its significance, will be the
topic of this talk.
Listen to lecture (QuickTime .mov format) [A small part is missing at the end]: © Text: James Conant. Audio: James Conant, WAB, Wittgenstein Research Group at the University of Bergen (WFG).
If you don't have QuickTime installed, you can download it for free from here.
James Conant: Family Resemblance, Composite Photography, and Unity of Concept: Goethe, Galton, Wittgenstein
(Lecture in Bergen 15.9.2005)
Abstract: The picture [to be provided] was in an album of photographs
that the philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein carried around with him
everywhere he went. It was originally assumed to be a photograph of a woman,
possibly a relative of his. In fact, it is not exactly “a photograph” nor
“of” “a woman”, on any conventional understanding of any of these words.
What exactly it is - and how we should understand what it is that such
pictures represent - is one of the central topics of this talk. The
picture was made by Wittgenstein himself; and his interest in such
representations was tied to his interest in certain ideas of Johann Wolfgang
Goethe’s and Francis Galton’s. Why Goethe would have been interested in the
possibility of such a picture, why Galton was, and why Wittgenstein wanted
to be, while refusing their understanding of its significance, will be the
topic of this talk.Listen to lecture (QuickTime .mov format) [A small part is missing at the end]: © Text: James Conant. Audio: James Conant, WAB, Wittgenstein Research Group at the University of Bergen (WFG).
If you don't have QuickTime installed, you can download it for free from here.