If we spoke a different language, we would perceive a somewhat different world.
Ludwig WittgensteinRead
What is left over if I subtract the fact that my arms goes up from the fact that I raise my arm?
Interpretation
The quote explores the distinction between physical actions and the underlying intentions or meanings behind them.
Ludwig Wittgenstein's quote challenges us to consider the difference between simply performing an action and the deeper understanding of that action. When he refers to raising his arm, he prompts an examination of what 'raising' signifies beyond the mere physical movement, suggesting that language and action are intertwined with the meanings we attribute to them.
In practice
In a philosophy class, to spark a discussion about the nature of actions and meanings.
If we spoke a different language, we would perceive a somewhat different world.
One 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.
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.
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?
Nothing is so difficult as not deceiving oneself.
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.
A man walks on through life - with the external call ringing in his ears but with no response stirring in his heart, and then suddenly, without any warning, the Spirit taps him on the shoulder. What happens? He turns 'round. The word 'repentance' means 'turning 'round.' He repents and believes and is saved.
If we divine a discrepancy between a man's words and his character, the whole impression of him becomes broken and painful; he revolts the imagination by his lack of unity, and even the good in him is hardly accepted.
At a certain level of suffering or injustice no one can do anything for anyone. Pain is solitary.
It is safe to assert that no government proper ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination.
The answer is never the answer. What's really interesting is the mystery.
An individual, in promoting his own interest, may injure the public interest; a nation, in promoting the general welfare, may check the interest of a part of its members.
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