Wittgenstein flies a kite
Susan G. Sterrett. 2006. Wittgenstein Flies a Kite. A Story of Models of Wings and Models of the World. New York: Pi Press.
An ambitious stab at intellectual history, the protestations of the author not to stereotypically fit that genre notwithstanding. Wittgenstein dabbled in aeronautical engineering, and was interested in 'heavier than air' flying machines around the time they were invented. Sterrett presents a convincing case for paying more attention to Wittgenstein's interest in scale modelling in this context. Her claim, that empirical scale models in the field of aeronautics inspired his theory of language as presented in the Tractatus, holds some credence and is developed in an engaging and detailed way. Whether or not Wittgenstein drew this inpiration first and foremost from a particular article on the methodology of scale modelling that he failed to acknowledge is another matter though. Notwithstanding all the rhetoric in the book in favour of this hypothesis, it rests on speculation and series of coincidences as they are typically motivated in the genre of intellectual history. Depending on one's scale, everything resembles everything else in some respects. Starrett succumbs to this seduction of cross-idea resemblances throughout the book. And why the recurring refrain to coincident occurrences in Wittgenstein's birth year?
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