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Psychoanalysis of grammatical misinterpretations: the relationship of Ludwig Wittgenstein with the work of Sigmund Freud

Wittgenstein’s relationship with the works of Sigmund Freud, manifest in numerous remarks in his “Nachlass”, can only be described as ambivalent. His remarks alternate between admiring absorption and intense rejection of Freud’s thoughts. Scholars have often chosen Wittgenstein’s critical reading of Freud as a subject of inquiry. They have considered far less, however, the extent to which Wittgenstein approached and incorporated Freud’s ideas in a positive way. This article will show that – at least in the work of the thirties – Wittgenstein’s positive approach to Freud is evident in his conception of philosophical therapy, which was modelled on and incorporated some of the basic assumptions of psychoanalytic treatment. 1 This article has benefitted from a period of research which the author was able to spend in March 2007 at the Wittgenstein Archives of the University of Bergen, Norway. I wish to express my gratitude to the Wittgenstein Archives, especially its Director Dr. Alois Pichler, for granting me access to the electronic version of “Wittgenstein’s Nachlass”. Sections of the “Nachlass” are quoted in these notes according to the number of the manucript or typescript and page numbers. All translations of Wittgenstein’s remarks, which are not yet published in the English language, are mine. The English version of this article includes a few slight revisions of its German predecessor, which was published under the title “Psychoanalyse der grammatischen Mißdeutungen: ber die Beziehung Ludwig Wittgensteins zum Werk Sigmund Freuds” in: Alois Pichler, Herbert Hrachovec (Eds.): Wittgenstein and the Philosophy of Information. Proceedings of the 30. International Ludwig Wittgenstein Symposium Kirchberg am Wechsel. Austria 2007. Volume 1, Frankfurt, Paris, Lancaster, New Brunswick 2008, 37–59. 1. The ambivalent relationship with Freud It is usually difficult to determine precisely and interpret satisfactorily Wittgenstein’s relationship with the philosophical or literary texts that he read – sometimes agreeing with them and sometimes not – as sources of inspiration for his own thought. Even if in his writings he explicitly named the authors with whom he had occupied himself, he frequently neglected to cite titles, let alone provide specific references to passages in the manner of academic citation. Occasionally he dispensed with naming any names at all, even when he had a source text in front of him that provided him with ideas. Vagueness of this sort with respect to his readings is the reason why questions about the concrete way in which authors and texts influenced his thought can hardly be decided with philological certainty. And this is further complicated by the fact that the “seed” that fell on his “soil” grew, in his own estimation, differently from the way it would have grown “in any other soil”, with the result that a factual idea can often be quite unrecognisable (CV, 42e). The situation in respect of Wittgenstein’s relationship with the work of Sigmund Freud is no different. It is known from Rush Rhees’ conversation with Wittgenstein, however, that Wittgenstein occupied himself with Freud on more than one occasion between 1919 and the late 40s (cf. LC, 41–52), and that he was familiar at least with The Interpretation of Dreams (Die Traumdeutung, 1900), The Psychopathology of Everyday Life (Zur Psychopathologie des Alltagslebens, 1901) and Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious (Der Witz und seine Beziehung zum Unbewußten, 1905). He might also have been familiar with the basic concepts of Studies of Hysteria (Studien ber Hysterie, 1895), written by Freud together with Josef Breuer, which was included in the Vienna family library of the Wittgensteins. Furthermore he might have been acquainted with some aspects of the techniques of psychoanalytic treatment from conversations with his sister Margarethe, who had been a patient of Freud. Those familiar with the writings of Freud and Wittgenstein will probably be able to observe similarities between the two in writings other than those named above. But irrespective of all of these facts: whatever 2 cf. Bouveresse 1995, 4. 3 cf. McGuinness 1981, 27 and Bouveresse 1995, 4. 4 e. g. it might be observed that the Nestroy-Motto “ berhaupt hat der Fortschritt das an sich, daß er viel grçßer ausschaut als er wirklich ist”, used by Wittgenstein to preface the late version (TS 227) of the Philosophical Investigations, is used Stefan Majetschak 152