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A review by dobbyhasnomaster
Wittgenstein Jr by Lars Iyer
4.0
A group of students study philosophy at Cambridge, and end up with a really out of the ordinary teacher, they call him Wittgenstein Jr. He bombards them with what I thought were really interesting philosophical theories and questions. The students act like typical students, clueless and reckless, but in a really funny way.
This was a very different and interesting book, the style of writing was really unconventional, it was like the narrator, Peters, was taking notes on everything that was said and done. Also a lot of words were written in italics, which makes you give them emphasis in your head, which I thought really helps you make sense of the philosophical theories and questions, which are plentiful in this book.
It was really funny and eye-opening to see how the book/Wittgenstein ridicules Cambridge: “Only the tourists really understand Cambridge, Wittgenstein says. Cambridge is only there to be photographed: that’s what they grasp. Cambridge is a collective fantasy…” I think there’s definitely some truth in there.
One of my favorite parts was when Wittgenstein was talking about how he hates dogs: “The dog is a disgusting creature, Wittgenstein says when the don is out of earshot. Bred for dependency. Bred for slobbering. We think our dogs love us because we have a debased idea of love, he says. We think our dogs are loyal to us because we have a corrupted sense of loyalty. People object to pit bulls and Rottweilers, but pit bulls and Rottweilers are his favourite dogs, Wittgenstein says. They don’t hide what they are.”
Another quote which I really liked: “He speaks of his hatred of self-consciousness. Of self-awareness. Absorption, that’s his ideal. The mind must be absorbed in its activities.”
All the theories in the book started to drag a little after a while, and some of it wasn’t quite understandable, but altogether the book was really interesting and very funny.
This was a very different and interesting book, the style of writing was really unconventional, it was like the narrator, Peters, was taking notes on everything that was said and done. Also a lot of words were written in italics, which makes you give them emphasis in your head, which I thought really helps you make sense of the philosophical theories and questions, which are plentiful in this book.
It was really funny and eye-opening to see how the book/Wittgenstein ridicules Cambridge: “Only the tourists really understand Cambridge, Wittgenstein says. Cambridge is only there to be photographed: that’s what they grasp. Cambridge is a collective fantasy…” I think there’s definitely some truth in there.
One of my favorite parts was when Wittgenstein was talking about how he hates dogs: “The dog is a disgusting creature, Wittgenstein says when the don is out of earshot. Bred for dependency. Bred for slobbering. We think our dogs love us because we have a debased idea of love, he says. We think our dogs are loyal to us because we have a corrupted sense of loyalty. People object to pit bulls and Rottweilers, but pit bulls and Rottweilers are his favourite dogs, Wittgenstein says. They don’t hide what they are.”
Another quote which I really liked: “He speaks of his hatred of self-consciousness. Of self-awareness. Absorption, that’s his ideal. The mind must be absorbed in its activities.”
All the theories in the book started to drag a little after a while, and some of it wasn’t quite understandable, but altogether the book was really interesting and very funny.