Quote Details: Ludwig Wittgenstein: Philosophy is a battle... - The Quotations Page Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language. Ludwig Wittgenstein Austrian philosopher (1889 - 1951)

Two interesting things about this quote. First, that it was posted in the first place. It's on a list of quotations that I glance at occasionally in my Google-Reader-provided fun feeds. Unless it is an oversight, there must be something in this statement that resonates with the folk vision of the imperfection of language as a means of expressing thought. Not being able to express a thought (or once expressed, the expression not resembling the thought) is a common experience reflected on by many conventional means ('it sounded better in my head', 'I cannot express...', 'words fail me', 'I don't know how to say this...'). On the surface, it goes against some other folk theories of language and intelligence, e.g. intelligent people are better at expressing themselves, etc. Of course, the other bit of folk classification of common experience is that language can be used to paint a pretty picture of ugly things, conceal the truth, and deceive (e.g. naming of US laws). So given that, this statement reflects both of these assumptions.

Second is the philosophical content of the quote itself. I don’t know and care how it squares against the early/late Wittgenstein divide (assuming it’s a Tractatus thing) but it shows a distinctly modular vision of language and intelligence. Intelligence is, implicitly, equated with algorithmic and digital logic whereas language is seen as only imperfectly expressing these abstract ideals. Of course, a piece of pith like this can be taken to mean many things, which is part of its power, but its implications and assumptions can be identified with a certain level of accuracy. For me, it is mostly symptomatic of how little most philosophy of language differs from folk theories of language.