Joe Rogan’s Existential Experience #1 — Ludwig Wittgenstein
R: Boom. We are live. Ludwig Wittgenstein, how are you doing, sir?
W: Wracked with doubt.
R: Intense. Say, I heard you went to school with Adolf Hitler?
W: Yes.
R: Could you have guessed?
W: What?
R: Did he talk about the Jews? About how he should kill the Jews?
W: I didn’t know him.
R: Right. So, language!
W: Language.
R: In this book, Philosophical Investigations, you write about how language is filled with word games. Isn’t that sort of like comedy?
W: There is a certain comedy to it. And tragedy.
R: Why tragedy?
W: Because, Mr Rogan, I contend that philosophical problems have been premised on misunderstandings of the function of language.
R: How so?
W: Mr Rogan, philosophers associate words and things, specific words with specific meanings. Take the word “armlock”.
R: Sure, an armlock.
W: But if, in a fight, a cornerman shouts “armlock” he is not just describing an action, but insisting that it take place, or warning that it WILL take place, and implying that a whole series of actions should or will accompany it.
R: Hey did you see that armlock at the fights on Saturday? That Russian chick? Pull that shit up Jamie…
W: My point, Mr Rogan, is that language is at least for the most part what is done; what is done in a particular form of life.
R: Can there be an armlock that is a leglock?
W: That is a grammatical error.
R: Oh, I’m sorry, could there be an armlock that is a leglock?
W: Mr Rogan, a grammatical mistake would be to say an armlock attacks the leg. An empirical mistake would be to say an armlock is used in cricket. The former is essential to the word “armlock” and the latter is not.
R: What if I called my leg an arm?
W: You don’t.
R: Ludwig Wittgenstein, don’t tell me what I can and can’t do. If I want to call my leg and arm then I’ll do it.
W: But…but…
R: You look tense. You ever smoked weed?
W: No.
R: What do you think about it?
W: I once said, of what we cannot speak we must pass over in silence.
R: Oh, that’s crazy talk. I wouldn’t have a podcast if I thought that. Here, try this.
W: A sweet?
R: An edible.
W: Okay.
*Five minutes later*
W: This is strong stuff.
R: I told you! My friend Joey Diaz — funniest guy in the world — can eat these all day long, but just a bit is enough for most people.
W: An edible! Fascinating name. It is edible, but it is not just edible…
R: I’ll say.
W: Phnoo…
R: Phnoo? What does that mean?
W: *Sighing* I don’t know.
