# Source of (alleged) Wittgenstein quote **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 6, 2013, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-alleged-wittgenstein-quote/646262 "2013-01-06T16:06:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-alleged-wittgenstein-quote/646262/1 "2013-01-06T16:06:26Z")
I’ve often heard a variation on the following story about Ludwig Wittgenstein: > [@](#): > > Meeting a friend in a corridor, Wittgenstein said: “Tell me, why do people always say that it was natural for men to assume that the sun went around the earth rather than that the earth was rotating?” His friend said, “Well, obviously, because it just looks as if the sun is going around the earth.” To which the philosopher replied, “Well, what would it have looked like if it had looked as if the earth was rotating?” However, what I’d like to know is, is this based on a real incident? Can it be accurately sourced? The closest I’ve so far been able to find is [this page](http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=580892), where it is attributed to the play ‘Jumpers’ by Tom Stoppard. Lacking access to its text, however, I can’t confirm this. Many thanks in advance! ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-alleged-wittgenstein-quote/646262/2 "2013-01-06T23:57:39Z")
I think it is most probable that this is just a joke invented by Stoppard. Wittgenstein, of all people, should have been able to be sensitive to the fact that words are used in different ways in different contexts and circumstances. (Here, the friend, who is, of course, correct, is clearly using “looks” to mean something like “seems”.) I suppose one could argue, however, that the fact that Wittgenstein had a strong tendency toward literalism (which is what Stoppard is satirizing) ws just that lead him to erect the realization that words are actually used differently in different circumstances into the basis of a whole approach to philosophy. FWIW, I have read several biographical accounts and reminiscences of Wittgenstein in my time (albeit a long time ago) and this alleged saying does not ring a bell. Admittedly I have also seen Jumpers, also a long time ago, and I don’t remember it from that either, but it certainly sounds like Stoppard’s sort of joke. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-alleged-wittgenstein-quote/646262/3 "2013-01-07T01:05:39Z")
Was Wittgenstein known to be a pedantic jerk? ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-alleged-wittgenstein-quote/646262/4 "2013-01-07T08:32:52Z")
While it doesn’t show up in Google Books, I’ve found the quote in Jumpers using Amazon’s ‘look inside’ feature, so I guess it does originate there; of course, it’s possible that Stoppard himself got it from somewhere, but seeing as this is the only source I’ve managed to find so far, that probably isn’t too likely. ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-alleged-wittgenstein-quote/646262/5 "2013-01-07T09:16:15Z")
I’ve heard another Wittgenstein story, sorta similar to this one (not as good, though). Wittgenstein’s friend has had surgery. Wittgenstein asks him how he feels. “Like a dog that’s been hit by a truck”, the friend wearily groans. Wittgenstein gets angry: “How would _you_ know what a dog feels after being hit by a truck?” ---
**Author:** ![TATG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/50afbb/32.png) [@TATG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TATG)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-alleged-wittgenstein-quote/646262/6 "2013-01-07T12:44:18Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > While it doesn’t show up in Google Books, I’ve found the quote in Jumpers using Amazon’s ‘look inside’ feature, so I guess it does originate there; of course, it’s possible that Stoppard himself got it from somewhere, but seeing as this is the only source I’ve managed to find so far, that probably isn’t too likely. The story also [appears to be](http://www.themoneyillusion.com/?p=12317#comment-120648) in Anscombe’s “An Introduction To Wittgenstein’s Tractatus” book that predates the play. I’ve checked that it is in there via google books. The wording of this version is very close, but not identical, to the (apparent) Stoppard version. In the “Yale Philosophy Review, 2008, Issue 4, p.81”, an interview with Nathan Salmon has him saying, “The anecdote is included in Tom Stoppard’s philosophical play Jumpers. Elizabeth Anscombe personally assured me that the anecdote is absolutely true.” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-alleged-wittgenstein-quote/646262/7 "2013-01-07T12:57:25Z")
It dates from after the Stoppard play, but James Burke used the quote in the opening episode of his BBC/PBS series _The Day the Universe Changed_ (1985). He didn’t say where he got it, but I’ll bet it was from the play _Jumpers_. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-alleged-wittgenstein-quote/646262/8 "2013-01-07T13:09:48Z")
> [@TATG](#): > > The story also [appears to be](http://www.themoneyillusion.com/?p=12317#comment-120648) in Anscombe’s “An Introduction To Wittgenstein’s Tractatus” book that predates the play. I’ve checked that it is in there via google books. The wording of this version is very close, but not identical, to the (apparent) Stoppard version. In the “Yale Philosophy Review, 2008, Issue 4, p.81”, an interview with Nathan Salmon has him saying, “The anecdote is included in Tom Stoppard’s philosophical play Jumpers. Elizabeth Anscombe personally assured me that the anecdote is absolutely true.” Ah, very good! Thanks for digging that up! ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-alleged-wittgenstein-quote/646262/9 "2013-01-07T13:27:52Z")
It was first quoted by Wittgenstein’s student Elizabeth Anscombe on p.151 of her \*'An Introduction to Wittgenstein’s Tractatus’ \*(London, 1959). From this more recent use by Thomas Mettzinger: [Wittgenstein quoted](http://tpdr.wordpress.com/2010/04/07/wittgenstein-quoted/) ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-alleged-wittgenstein-quote/646262/10 "2013-01-07T13:48:44Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > It was first quoted by Wittgenstein’s student Elizabeth Anscombe on p.151 of her \*'An Introduction to Wittgenstein’s Tractatus’ \*(London, 1959). > > From this more recent use by Thomas Mettzinger: > > [Wittgenstein quoted](http://tpdr.wordpress.com/2010/04/07/wittgenstein-quoted/) Ha, I’ve actually got Metzinger’s book queued to read, so I guess I would have found out eventually… Thanks again! ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-alleged-wittgenstein-quote/646262/11 "2013-01-07T13:55:21Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > Was Wittgenstein known to be a pedantic jerk? No, but he was a beery swine. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-alleged-wittgenstein-quote/646262/12 "2013-01-07T15:51:59Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > It was first quoted by Wittgenstein’s student Elizabeth Anscombe on p.151 of her \*'An Introduction to Wittgenstein’s Tractatus’ \*(London, 1959). > > From this more recent use by Thomas Mettzinger: > > [Wittgenstein quoted](http://tpdr.wordpress.com/2010/04/07/wittgenstein-quoted/) That sort of makes sense if he said it in the _Tractatus_ era, which was before he realized (or before he realized that it was important) that words can have more than one “proper” use. On the other hand, (though I am not quite sure of the timeline) I don’t think Anscombe would have known him until he was fairly well past that.