Wittgenstein's Song
Edition: P.F.S. Post edition
Series: Curiosities (Lyric Poems), Returns
Publisher: P.F.S. Post
Published: December 2022
Place of publication: Plymouth Meeting, Pa
Copyright date: 2005
Description: Wittgenstein's Song was placed on P.F.S. Post (Philly Free School Post) as of December 2022, backdated to May 2009.
Notes: The persona poem Wittgenstein's Song plays, thematically, on the tenets of Logical Positivism, for which Ludwig Wittgenstein is the primary avatar, and his Tractatus, the textual backbone of Logical Positivism. The Tractatus employs formal logic to prove the limitations of language and linguistic expression: "what we cannot speak of, we must pass over in silence." Wittgenstein's gayness was not an issue, in relation to Logical Positivism; but the poem conflates Wittgenstein's personal life with his life as a philosopher.