Andy Hamilton: "Wittgenstein as Ironist"

Andy Hamilton, Durham University: "Wittgenstein as Ironist"

Abstract
Wittgenstein is a philosopher who is also a literary artist. One aspect of his artistry is the use of irony. Irony involves a literal statement, and an implicit commentary on it. Wittgenstein is not merely a master of irony – he is an ironist. An ironist is an artist or thinker in some sense. With Socrates, Hume, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and perhaps Adorno, he is one of the great philosophical ironists – a writer whose essential standpoint is ironic.

Irony is distinguished from candid uncertainty, which concerns something that one has reflected on, yet failed to form a view about. According to Wayne Booth, modern irony is unstable. Stable irony has clear rhetorical intent; in Fielding's Tom Jones, and perhaps Swift's "A Modest Proposal", the author stands on "solid ground". In contrast, unstable irony, found in Conrad, Musil and Beckett, resists firm interpretation, and revels in uncertainty. Irony in this sense is a distancing device; ironists appear as not owning their words. Ironic speech contrasts with faithful speech: "it is possible to make sense of owning our words in faithful speech, only if we recognise our ability to withhold our commitment from them" (Hall). Not owning one's words means not asserting their literal content – or doubting that they have literal content.

Irony applies to the investigation of pseudo-problems, as in On Certainty's remarks concerning the philosopher who repeatedly insists "I know that's a tree", and his interlocuter who comments that "We're only doing philosophy"; and Zettel on realism v. idealism. Analytic philosophy is uncomfortable with candid uncertainty and especially irony – both seem to undermine its commitment to plain argument style.

Wittgenstein's work is literary art. In contrast, plain argument is a professional style. Its proponents would affirm that Wittgenstein is a great philosopher who is also a great literary artist. In contrast, I defend the claim that Wittgenstein is a great philosopher partly because he is a great literary artist. This position implies a humane understanding of philosophy as one of the humanities. His work calls for close reading like a literary text, with attention to tone and register as well as content; the literary effect at which he aims is inseparable from his philosophical intentions. Thus his work has a vital bearing on Plato's "ancient quarrel" between poetry and philosophy.