Blog

John McCain's Private Language Problem

So John McCain now says the “surge” means all of the counter insurgency techniques deployed in Iraq and not just the increase (or “surge”) in troops. This not only does violence to common sense (and insults the intelligence of voters), but, as Matt deftly alludes to here, puts him in direct opposition to one of my heroes, Ludwig Wittgenstein, who famously argued that the notion of a private language is incoherent.

As a committed content externalist, I am deeply offended.

(cross-posted)

Christopher Hayes is the Washington, D.C. Editor of The Nation.

From the blog

Later: The Refugee Crisis

Earlier: Why Airline Travel Sux: Big Air Responds!

Blog archives

Join Christopher's email list.

Feed Icon Subscribe

Made with Django.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.