Wittgenstein Page #2

I told him it would be dark.

He said he hated daylight.

I told him it would be Lonely.

He said he prostituted his mind

talking to intelligent people.

I said he was mad.

He said God preserve him from sanity.

God certainly will.

Its shocking that he's never read Aristotle.

(Ticking)

LUDWIG:
I don't merely have

the visual impression of a pillar box.

I know this is a pillar box.

I know this is a hand.

And what is a hand?

This, for example.

It's a certain certainty.

I'm familiar with certainty.

I know this film studio is in Waterloo.

But how do I know

that you are Ludwig Wittgenstein?

(Gentle piano music)

Ludwig, Ludwig!

I've just heard from Mother

that you're going to join up.

Now, look, I understand wanting to do your bit

in this terrible war,

but why do you want to die in the trenches?

Why not get a clerical job in Vienna?

Because I want to go to the front.

Why put yourself at risk like this, Ludwig?

You've been exempted, for Christ's sake.

Standing eye to eye with death will give me

the chance to be a decent human being.

I'll be doing something.

(Stab of piano chords)

I'm going as well.

We've got to do our duty.

(Dramatic piano music)

(Gunfire and artillery fire)

Where two principles meet

which cannot be reconciled with one another,

then each calls the other a fool or a heretic.

(Gunfire and artillery fire)

I'm hated because I'm a volunteer!

I'm surrounded by people who hate me.

The nearness of death

will bring me the light of life.

God, enlighten me.

God, enlighten me!

I am a worm.

Pray God that I become a man.

God be with me.

God be with me!

Amen!

I know this world exists.

But its meaning is problematic.

Am I good or am I evil?

When my conscience upsets my equilibrium,

then I am not in agreement with something.

What is it?

Is it the world?

Or is it God?

Wittgenstein has been taken prisoner.

Oh, how fascinating!

"I am a prisoner of war

in Monte Cassino under the Italians.

I hope we shall see each other after the war.

Being shot at many times

has altered the way I think about philosophy.

So has Tolstoy's Gospel In Brief.

I have written a book called

Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus.

It combines logical symbolism

with religious mysticism.

It's better with no shoes, no shoes at all.

Love, Ludwig."

I must send him some more cocoa tablets.

Sounds like he's rather depressed.

Does he know you've been in prison, Bertie?

I doubt it.

Such nice manners always, Ludwig.

Good stock.

What is logical symbolism?

Oh, it's too difficult to explain.

That's the trouble with you, Bertie.

You can never answer a straight question.

(Church bells ring)

I was released from prison camp

on the 21st of August, 1919.

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