654. But
against this there are plenty of objections. – In the first place there is the
fact that “12 x 12 etc.” is a mathematical
proposition, and from this one may infer that only mathematical propositions
are in this situation. And if this inference is not justified, then there ought
to be a proposition that is just as certain, and deals with the process of this
calculation, but isn’t itself mathematical. I am thinking of such a proposition
as: “The multiplication ‘12 x 12’, when carried out by people who know how to
calculate, will in the great majority of cases give the result ‘144’ ”. Nobody
will contest this proposition, and naturally it is not a mathematical one. But
has it got the certainty of the mathematical one?
a mathematical
proposition –
Wittgenstein
suggest ‘is in this situation’ –
that is
to say – is certain –
this is
just rhetoric –
he then
goes on to say –
if this
‘inference’ is not justified –
there ought to be a proposition – ‘just as
certain’
again – another
piece of rhetoric –
and this
time of the pleading kind
he says
there ‘ought’ to be such a proposition –
presumably
because – it suits his purposes –
his view
of the world
hardly a
basis for what he would call –
‘objective
truth’
the
proposition he puts forward – as ‘just as certain’ –
because
it ought to be there –
“The
multiplication ‘12 x 12’, when carried out by people who know how to calculate,
will in the great majority of cases give the result ‘144’
is
speculation – plain and simple –
and he
asks –
but has
it got the certainty of the mathematical one?
it has no
certainty –
and like
‘the mathematical one’ –
is a
proposal – open to question –
open to
doubt
© greg t. charlton. 2010.
