Kierkegaard's POSTSCRIPT and Wittgenstein's Tractatus: Teaching How to Pass from Disguised to Patent Nonsense

Abstract

There is a tradition of philosophical writing -- one which can be traced back to Plato's dialogues -- in which the form of the philosophical text is thought to be integral to its purpose. The form of the text is modeled on a PROCESS of discovery. The relation the reader is invited to enter into with the text mirrors a relation that he is called upon to enter into with himself. This mode of philosophical writing will often seem to be less concerned with imparting a specific doctrine to the reader and more concerned with introducing him to an intellectual discipline that holds forth the promise of transforming him.