something different
the author makes many points i haven't seen elsewhere, and I hope to indicate how the book has been worth it to me. Wittgenstein was noted as having the "gift" of being able to see familiar things as if for the first time and that is a theme guiding the exploration here, appropriate to its being a key advantage of his method... I note here that this is in contrast to W's criticism of philosophers who move, via a mere abstraction, to a "space" where it is like skating on smooth ice - one gets no purchase, cannot progress. Genova does not make this error in her exploration. She finds that W did not rest on the "for the first time" freedom, but instead moved BACK, into the pertinent "language games" that are grounded in our social practices - behaviors of significance & meaning. The material she brings forth (from W's writings) for our consideration helps us SEE how an apparent similarity (suggested by the abstraction) indeed can breed confusion - which W likened to a sense that "I can't find my way," but doesn't have to. We see how, with the requisite caution, one may discover that the similarity mediated by the abstraction "makes sense" - that one should explore further; there is something truly deeper here in life. Or, if not, if one is on smooth frictionless ice, one is free simply to move on - that's just "language." Move on - avoid a wild goose chase, or (sticking with fauna) quit beating a dead horse. This requires, on her part, good judgement in what she directs us to explore, and how to guide us. This is her key contribution. This could have been an empty exercise. On beginning, I half wondered whether her unusual approach might be merely odd, but I find she has led me somewhere that I, at least, benefited from going. Eliot puts it better (of course) in suggesting that if one looks, one may find; it can be that "the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." And that, we might say (paraphrasing) can make all the difference. Enjoy.