Tip-Off #196 – Another word, another world

Ludwig Wittgenstein has changed how we understand language and its limitations. A cultural icon that influenced the field from mathematics to psychology, he has abandoned academia multiple times to lead a simpler life.

Born into one of Europe’s wealthiest families, he handed over the family’s wealth and worked as a village school teacher. As one of the most influential contemporary philosophers, he challenged our perceptions of language and reality, showing that the limitations of our expression limit our understanding of reality. Others explored how different languages ​​shape perceptions, but Wittgenstein’s unique focus on language games and lifeforms provided an innovative framework.

Rather than looking at language as the perfect mirror of reality, Wittgenstein saw it as a collection of different tools, each serving a different purpose. He said many of the problems stem from confusion over language rather than real mysteries about the world or each other. For example, saying “God exists”, “actual truth”, and even “2 + 2 = 4” means that each participates in a completely different language game with its own rules and objectives. Misleading one game for another is resolved only by creating an unsolvable problem and returning words to the appropriate context when treating religious claims as scientific hypotheses or mathematical truths as empirical facts.

Just like I grew up in Latin America, Wittgenstein wasn’t talking about learning another language. But the experience impressed me how much conflict arises from our failure to realize that we are fully living in a world of different meanings.

This applies to the Bible as well. Failure to understand the world in which the Bible is written leads to misunderstanding, crime, or neglect. Like Spanish, the Hebrew and Aramaic and Greek translations of the Bible are abundant in jackets, petite, luxurious palpators and passionate declarations, but the more modest English speakers are often reserved and literal. When ancient Hebrew poets talk about “running Babylonian baby to the rock,” they don’t speak English. The problem is not just speech, but rhetoric, not just words, but the world.

Today, the leap towards Vladimir Putin may underscore the point. When Putin describes Ukrainian “special military operations” as a defense against Western “Satanism,” he is based on the apocalyptic tradition of Orthodox Christianity unfamiliar to secular Western audiences. These are not just translation issues. They reflect a fundamentally different worldview shaped by Alexander Duguin, the “Putin’s brain,” who rejects Western liberalism, for Eurasian philosophy as spiritually bankrupting Western liberalism. In Duguin’s vision, Russia stands as a defender of traditional values ​​and cultural sovereignty, directly opposes what is considered a moral collapse in the West.

Economists and global leaders have widely criticised President Trump’s tariff orders as reckless. Trump once revealed his approach: “The key to how I promote is brave. I play in people’s fantasies. I call it an exaggeration of truth.” The United States has maintained essentially the same trade framework since World War II, despite dramatic changes in the world economy. Though disruptive in the short term, Trump’s aggressive tariff strategy aims to force meaningful readjustment of international trade relations. If the truth behind his strange behavior cannot be addressed, public protests are like cutting grass.

The context does not excuse for fraud. Or, now, the incredible claim that the Nazis treated Jewish prisoners with “love” exacerbates the enthusiastic generality. It’s about understanding everything do not have Allow everything, but deal effectively with these obstacles.

What Wittgenstein calls a “language game” is life or death rooted in basic principles. Public protests often overthrew authoritarian governments, but in time one extreme continues to produce another. Our values ​​and principles can be fundamentally contradictory, but how they are expressed determines our influence.

For six years, his tragic motorcycle accident, Tony, a young man in the city, became part of our family. His love for rap and violent slang were difficult to deal with. To connect, we created a personal “bilingual dictionary” that translates the English version, revealing how the same words carried completely different meanings in his world.

Although Tony was already fluent in both “languages”, this translation effort changed our relationship and allowed him to maintain his authentic speech while understanding his world. I now understand rap lyrics better, but I still hate rap. But understanding language helped me see what I think offensive makes sense.

In today’s infinite discussion of diversity, language diversity is hidden by demographics and “global English.” Various expression and understanding habits are forgotten, ensuring selective affinity and obstacles to work and relationships. The distinctive linguistic habits of speech and understanding represent the overall way of perception, classification and related reality. Beyond Wittgenstein, empirical research shows that language has a critical impact on self-guarantee and mutual respect. “Language” is not just a matter of inclusiveness, it is about listening to what is being said in the first place.

When Wittgenstein talks about “language games,” the word “game” in his language (German) does not have our sense of frivolity or playing. The German term used by Wittgenstein is Sprachspiele“spill” can be translated as a “game”, but it has a broader meaning. It means something similar to “rule-following activities” or “practicing with internal standards.” This is a form of life that has unique logic and consistency.

I know what Spanish and linguists call the “Black English version.” I learned something about the rhetoric of the Bible and its inexplicable features. Most of you, as a reader, are not strangers to linguistic diversity in your experience. The more multilingual you become, the better you understand each other, the more meaningful and productive you agree.

Notes and reading

“The limits of our language are the limits of our world.” – Wittgenstein originally wrote this to the first person: “The Limit of my Language means limits my World” – From Proposal 5.6 Tractatus. However, in his later works, he argued that meaning is established through social practices and public use. Therefore, the later view suggests “we” – reality is accessible through one’s own perspective As shaped by shared linguistic and social contexts. – sauce: Wittgenstein’s Ladder: Poetic Words and Ordinary Strangeness“Marjorie Perloff (1999).

The Bible Language – Please refer to this in particular Art of biblical story Long Introductory Essays by Robert Alter and David Bentley Hart New Translation of the New Testament. These comprehensively look at the stylistic richness of the Bible and address basic translation issues.

Ernst Kassiler, Essay on Man: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Human Culture (Reprinted 2021, originally published in 1944). Cassirer approaches topics from the “neocantian” tradition rather than Wittgenstein’s analytical framework, providing a complementary perspective on language as part of a broader, iconic system.

Alexander Dugin – From Ukraine’s “Special Military Operations” In “Putin’s Brain” Michael Millerman (2022). Epigraph: “Mastering Heidegger is a major strategic challenge for Russians and Russian society in the near future.” – Dagin. Millerman is the main English interpreter of Duguin’s ideas. His analysis is well balanced and well respected by most other scholars, but Millerman has been criticized for taking Dugin’s ideas seriously, as if intellectual engagement suggests support.

Donald Trump – The art of trading (1995). “Trump says he doesn’t want stocks to go down.” CNBC.com/markets (April 6, 2025).

Tip #195 – Democracy of chaos

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Approx. 2 + 2 = 5