Haiku Blogfest Entry

Let me preface this by saying that I don’t consider myself much of a writer or anything like a poet. I do love haiku as a form since it involves an unusual form of wordplay for the English language. Hence, I have decided to enter this blogfest.

Newcomers, I am sorry to disappoint if you were expecting something of literary merit. Mostly you will find ramblings and musings on technical and philosophical topics. If you find them interesting, so much so the better. If not, I apologize and wish you well.

My haiku:

Wittgenstein said that
“Die Welt ist alles, was der
Fall ist.” Yes, but no.

I wrote about 7 haiku in preparation for this blogfest, but chose this one because it was most relevant to the spirit of my blog, even if it is at odds with the spirit of the haiku form.

The quote is the first main proposition of the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. It translates most often as “The world is everything that is the case.” The “yes, but no” is a reference to a particular interpretation of the TLP that states that it is but a means to an end and that if one truly understands what the TLP is presenting, it is reduced to non-sense. I’ve heard it referred to as a ladder that is discarded when one reaches the top, because once one has reached the conclusions that Wittgenstein has, one will see the world as more than a mere collection of facts. This is something that put Wittgenstein at odds with certain Vienna Circle members, but that is a story for another time.