Hi Everybody.
There's a book called "Wittgenstein's Poker", and it's about two of the finest 20th century philosophers whose philosophical bents were (to say the least) at odds: Ludwig Wittgenstein and Karl Popper. The book is a mini-biography of these two, but also an overview of their methods and way of looking at things. But the book centers around a ten-minute meeting of them at the Cambridge Moral Science Club in 1947 (I think), at which the following was puported to happen:
Popper was giving a paper and Wittgenstein, fed up with his conclusions was purported to grab a hot poker from the fireplace and wave it in Popper's direction, saying: "Give me ONE example of an absolute truth!" To which Popper (allegedly) replied: "One should not threaten visiting professors with hot pokers!" (and you thought that *this* was an antagonistic forum!). Book says that this may be apocryphal; eye-witnesses differ on the account. But that's part of the fun of the book. It's a real good read.
Steve O.
There's a book called "Wittgenstein's Poker", and it's about two of the finest 20th century philosophers whose philosophical bents were (to say the least) at odds: Ludwig Wittgenstein and Karl Popper. The book is a mini-biography of these two, but also an overview of their methods and way of looking at things. But the book centers around a ten-minute meeting of them at the Cambridge Moral Science Club in 1947 (I think), at which the following was puported to happen:
Popper was giving a paper and Wittgenstein, fed up with his conclusions was purported to grab a hot poker from the fireplace and wave it in Popper's direction, saying: "Give me ONE example of an absolute truth!" To which Popper (allegedly) replied: "One should not threaten visiting professors with hot pokers!" (and you thought that *this* was an antagonistic forum!). Book says that this may be apocryphal; eye-witnesses differ on the account. But that's part of the fun of the book. It's a real good read.
Steve O.
