Wittgenstein’s Ethics and Modern Warfare

168 Pages·2018·3.701 MB·English

by  Nil Santiáñez

Wittgenstein’s Ethics
and Modern Warfare
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Wittgenstein’s Ethics
and Modern Warfare

nil santiáñez
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WILFRID LAURIER
UNIVERSITY PRESS
Wilfrid Laurier University Press acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for
the Arts for our publishing program. We acknowledge the financial support of the
Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities.
This work was supported by the Research Support Fund.
an Ontario government agency
un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Santiáñez-Tió, Nil, author
Wittgenstein’s ethics and modern warfare / Nil Santiáñez.
Includes bibliographical references.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-77112-383-9 (hardcover).—ISBN 978-1-77112-384-6 (EPUB).—
ISBN 978-1-77112-385-3 (PDF)
1. Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 1889–1951—Criticism and interpretation. 2. Ethics.
3. World War, 1914–1918—Moral and ethical aspects. I. Title. I. Title: Ethics and
modern warfare.
B3376.W564S26 2018 192 C2018-902210-8
C2018-902211-6
Front-cover image: Otto Dix, Sonnenaufgang, 1913. Öl auf Papier auf Pappe (oil on
paper on cardboard). Bildmaβ (picture): 50.5 x 66cm; Rahmenmaβ (frame): 64.5
x 80.3 x 7.5 cm. Inv.-Nr. 2013/k 25, Städtische Galerie Dresden – Kunstsammlung
(Municipal Gallery Dresden – Art Collection), Museen der Stadt Dresden (Museums of
the City of Dresden). Acquired 2012 with the friendly assistance of Ernst von Siemens
Kunststiftung, Kulturstiftung der Länder, Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung and the
Rudolf-August Oetker Stiftung. Photo: Herbert Boswank. © Estate of Otto Dix /
SODRAC (2018). Cover design by Lara Minja, Lime Design Inc. Interior design by
Daiva Villa/Chris Rowat Design.
© 2018 Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
www.wlupress.wlu.ca
This book is printed on FSC® certified paper and is certified Ecologo. It contains post-
consumer fibre, is processed chlorine free, and is manufactured using biogas energy.
Printed in Canada
Every reasonable effort has been made to acquire permission for copyright material
used in this text, and to acknowledge all such indebtedness accurately. Any errors
and omissions called to the publisher’s attention will be corrected in future printings.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or trans-
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an Access Copyright licence, visit http://www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to
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In memoriam
Albert Freixa
With fraternal gratitude and love
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Contents
Illustrations viii
Preface ix
part one the great war and the ethics
of silence 1
1 A Wordless Battle 3
2 A Wordless Ethics 15
part two wittgenstein’s ladders and
ethical landscapes 41
3 Landscapes of War 43
4 Landscapes of Peace 69
Coda: Unintelligibility and the Moral
Imagination 115
Notes 119
Bibliography 139
Copyright Acknowledgements 152
vii
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List of Illustrations
Figure 1.1 British troops advancing through no-man’s-
land 5
1.2 Burial of British soldiers 10
4.1 Otto Dix, Kriegskrüppel (War cripples) 84
4.2 Otto Dix, Transplantation (Skin graft) 94
4.3 The German Crown Prince 101
4.4 Disabled veteran 102
4.5 Disabled veteran 103
4.6 Disabled veteran 104
4.7 Disabled veteran 105
4.8 Disabled veteran 106
4.9 Disabled veteran 107
4.10 Disabled veteran 108
4.11 Disabled veteran 109
viii
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Preface
I have always been struck by the peculiar homology between
Wittgenstein’s notion of ethics and the view of war held
by veterans of the world war of 1914–18. On the one hand,
Wittgenstein (himself a veteran of that war) conceived of
ethics as both transcendental and inexpressible. On the
other, a substantial number of veterans of the Great War
claimed that war cannot be truly imagined, understood,
or represented; to many former combatants, that military
conflict was a sort of ineffable event. This homology is not,
I presume, mere coincidence. After all, Wittgenstein’s moral
philosophy arose from the war, specifically as a result of his
own combat experience in the Eastern Front in the summer
of 1916. Before his true baptism of fire, Wittgenstein was
exclusively interested in matters concerning logic. The focus
of his intellectual preoccupations radically shifted after he
faced death in the battlefield: suddenly, after his first experi-
ence of combat Wittgenstein began to reflect on ethics, on
God, on the meaning of life. War is a life-changing event for
most of its participants, and Wittgenstein was no exception.
Taking as a point of departure the aforementioned homol-
ogy, in this book I explore the links between Wittgenstein’s
ix
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