• Pynchon and Wittgenstein: ethics, relativism and philosophical methodology

    Author(s):
    Martin Paul Eve (see profile)
    Date:
    2014
    Group(s):
    LLC 20th- and 21st-Century American, TC Philosophy and Literature
    Subject(s):
    American literature
    Item Type:
    Book chapter
    Tag(s):
    thomas pynchon, ludwig wittgenstein
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6CP4Z
    Abstract:
    This piece presents a tripartite analysis of the relationship between the philosophical works of Ludwig Wittgenstein and the novels of Thomas Pynchon. This is broadly structured around three schools of Wittgenstein scholarship identified by Guy Kahane et al. as the Orthodox Tractatus, the New Wittgenstein, and several strands of the Orthodox Investigations (Kahane et al. 4-14). Moving from the earliest affiliation that Pynchon stages between Wittgenstein and Weissman, the underlying theme lies in Pynchon's relationship to ethical relativism as it pertains to Nazism. From this it will become clear that neither relativism of experience and representation, nor an unbounded relativism of non-committal ethics, are central to Pynchon's fiction.
    Metadata:
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    Published as:
    Book chapter     Show details
    Publisher:
    Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée
    Pub. Date:
    2014
    Book Title:
    Profils Américains: Thomas Pynchon
    Author/Editor:
    Chamerois, G. and Chorier-Fryd, B.
    Page Range:
    81 - 104
    ISBN:
    9782367810225
    Status:
    Published
    License:
    All Rights Reserved

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