21.3
417. “I know that for the last month I have
had a bath everyday.” What am I remembering? Each day and the bath each
morning? No. I know that I bathed
each day and I do not derive that from some other immediate datum. Similarly I
say “I felt a pain in my arm” without this locality coming into my
consciousness in any other way (such as by means of an image).
the assertion – ‘for the last month I have had a
bath every day’ –
is just that – an assertion –
it is open to question – open to doubt –
open to revision
Wittgenstein prefaces this assertion with
‘I know’ –
in so doing he corrupts the assertion –
‘I know that for the last month I have gad a
bath every day’
is the attempt to render the proposition –
beyond question – beyond doubt
what we have here –
is propositional vandalism
‘I felt a pain in my arm’
is an assertion – like any other assertion
–
open to question – open to doubt –
open to revision
© greg t. charlton. 2010.
