If we spoke a different language, we would perceive a somewhat different world.
Ludwig WittgensteinRead
We could present spatially an atomic fact which contradicted the laws of physics, but not one which contradicted the laws of geometry.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes that while physics can be defied, geometry holds a more absolute certainty in its truths.
Ludwig Wittgenstein's statement suggests that while the principles of physics are subject to change or contradiction based on new discoveries or interpretations, the axioms and truths of geometry are foundational and unchangeable in the realm of spatial reasoning. This highlights the inherent stability and reliability of geometric truths in contrast to the evolving nature of physical laws.
Themes
GeometryPhysicsTruthPhilosophySpatial Reasoning
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture on the nature of scientific laws, this quote could illustrate the distinction between physical theories and geometric fundamentals.
More from Ludwig Wittgenstein
All quotes βOne cannot guess how a word functions. One has to look at its use and learn from that. But the difficulty is to remove the prejudice which stands in the way of doing this. It is not a stupid prejudice.
Ludwig WittgensteinRead
No one likes having offended another person; hence everyone feels so much better if the other person doesn't show he's been offended. Nobody likes being confronted by a wounded spaniel. Remember that. It is much easier patiently - and tolerantly - to avoid the person you have injured than to approach him as a friend. You need courage for that.
Ludwig WittgensteinRead
It's impossible for me to say one word about all that music has meant to me in my life. How, then, can I hope to be understood?
Ludwig WittgensteinRead
Nothing is so difficult as not deceiving oneself.
Ludwig WittgensteinRead
My day passes between logic, whistling, going for walks, and being depressed. I wish to God that I were more intelligent and everything would finally become clear to me - or else that I needn't live much longer.
Ludwig WittgensteinRead
Similar quotes
In foreign affairs we must make up our minds that whether we wish it or not, we are a great people and must play a great part in the world. It is not open to us to choose whether we will play that great part or not.
Theodore RooseveltRead
There are three things in the world that deserve no mercy, hypocrisy, fraud, and tyranny.
Frederick William RobertsonRead
To get overprotective about particular readings of the Bible is always in danger of idolatry.
N. T. WrightRead
History does not repeat itself. Nor does it unfold in cycles. The real future is contingent, rich beyond imagining, a perennial gobsmack, tragic and glorious in equal measure; the pundits' future, spun of 'conventional wisdom,' is only a sucker punch to that common-sense fact.
Rick PerlsteinRead
To be a woman is a great adventure; To drive men mad is a heroic thing.
Boris PasternakRead
There are wholes, the behavior of which is not determined by that of their individual elements, but where the part-processes are themselves determined by the intrinsic nature of the whole. It is the hope of Gestalt theory to determine the nature of such wholes.
Max WertheimerRead