Lesson_10.docVIP

Lesson 10 (Book 2) Background Information 1. Jodie Marion Jodie Marion, literature and composition instructor at Mt Hood Community College, Gresham, Oregon, was recognized for providing a learning community in her classroom that fosters teamwork and peer teaching. 2. Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein (1889---1951) was an Austrian-British philosopher who worked primarily in the areas of logic, philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of language. Described by his mentor and colleague Bertrand Russell as the most perfect example I have ever known of genius as traditionally conceived, passionate, profound, intense, and dominating, Wittgenstein is considered by many to be the greatest philosopher of the 20th century. He is considered one of the most important figures in analytic philosophy. According to an end of the century poll, professional philosophers rank both his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1921) and Philosophical Investigations (1953) among the top five most important books in twentieth-century philosophy. Wittgenstein wrote Tractatus while he was a soldier and prisoner of war during World War I. It was first published in German in 1921 as Logisch-Philosophische Abhandlung. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus is the only philosophical work published during his lifetime. It was a project aiming at identifying the relationship between language and reality and showing the limits of science. (For more information, please go to /wiki/Ludwig_Wittgenstein) Student Guide 1. Introduction People are always discussing the differences between a written letter and an e-mail. While exploring the functions of language in public as well as personal affairs, the author does not intend to dismiss the controversy on different written mediums at all. Instead, the author tries to argue that the power of communication lies in the ability of handling language, no matter whether it is hand-written or transmitted on the Internet. 2