*Get "An American Dream" on Amazon here*
*Get An American Dream by Norman Mailer on Amazon here*
Norman Mailer's bizarre early novel gets the Hollywood treatment from an entertainment industry that was in a mid-1960s flux of its own.
Stephen Rojack (Stuart Whitman) is a successful television host (on a terrible looking TV show that wouldn't have been broadcast even back in the 1960s) who has a drunk, hateful wife Deborah (Eleanor Parker) waiting for him at her penthouse home after returning from Europe. Their fighting escalates until she falls off the balcony to her death. Stephen is dragged into the police station for questioning, where he hooks up with former flame Cherry (Janet Leigh), who is now on the arm of a local mob boss. In the most eventful day ever experienced by a celebrity, Stephen is semi-on-the-run from the police and the mob, while trying to bring Cherry back into his life the day after his wife took the big dive, which also seems to have upset Deborah's rich father (Lloyd Nolan).
This film is even more bizarre than the book. Whitman is okay as Rojack, he has a great suave look about him, but then he tries to go into high-strung hysterics that are cringe and unintentionally funny to watch. Parker's performance gets a ton of praise, but I thought she was terrible. Gist directs the police station scenes like it was his first time behind a camera, and all the sets on the film feel stagebound and silly. The mod production design and set decoration are fun to look at, and the supporting cast of recognizable character actors are pretty good, if not similar looking (don't bother trying to remember who is who among Cherry's mafia friends).
I think the film wanted to bring more edge to its story, and it was hampered by the motion picture production code. The overacting and situations are ratcheted up to a nine, but then the blandness creeps in. Deborah's death is shocking but laughable in its violence, as is Stephen's reaction. Gist's camera dwells on the oddest things. The screenplay sounds like a spoof of those old 1940's film noir classics, and doesn't play right with the day-glo cinematography.
Much like the novel, "An American Dream" serves as a curiosity, and not much more. It sure isn't boring, however.
Not Rated- Physical violence, some gun violence, mild profanity, very brief nudity, some sexual references, adult situations, alcohol and tobacco use
Sunday, May 31, 2026
Chernobyl (2019)
*Get "Chernobyl" on Amazon here*
*Get Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster by Adam Higginbotham on Amazon here*
This massive, five hour television mini-series is a combination of disaster film, political thriller, science jargon, and body horror that completely works on all fronts.
In 1988, Valery (Jared Harris) secrets some audio tapes he's made about his role in the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster before hanging himself (not a spoiler, this literally happens in the opening minutes). We are then taken back to the night of the accident, and knowing now what we didn't know then, watch as first the USSR, and then the world, deals with a monumental catastrophe that has never occured in the history of man before.
I consider this the best television miniseries ever created. The struggling Soviet Union is portrayed brilliantly, with the Russian cultural sense captured in all its glory. Craig Mazin's script is not anti-nuclear, but anti-nuclear accident. The catastrophe almost affected millions of people, and how we were spared from the greatest manmade disaster of all-time by mere hours and smart brainstorming should give everyone pause. One aspect of the script rarely mentioned in other reviews is a subtle but deserved swipe at communism and socialism in general. The State is a lumbering, suffocating bureaucracy, with party members and titles being tossed around at an alarming rate, and the non-thankful peons grinding away for no recognition of their own except the thanks of a few higher-ups. Many modern day socialists would argue that Cold War communism "wasn't done right," but as the United States deals with its own lumbering, suffocating bureaucracy, I'm going to differ.
Ulana (Emily Watson) is a combination of many people who helped Valery and Boris (Stellan Skarsgard) try to figure out how to stop the accident from literally spreading, and finding out why the impossible happened and what to do when it happens again. Mazin's script still carves out Ulana as a well-rounded character, however, and I didn't question that she wasn't a real person until seeing the end coda. The film makers allow forays into supporting character and story arcs, reminding the viewer that there were actual people involved- the young firefighter (Adam Nagaitis) and his wife (Jessie Buckley), the recruit (Barry Keoghan) and his hunting assignment, the coal miners, and harried medical staff all deal with the situation while hampered by the State using an iron fist to control them. They are supported by strong direction from Johan Renck, who helmed all five episodes, so there's is a clear vision that never strays from its intent.
I'm not going to lie, I didn't expect this level of drama, intensity, or wrenching tragedy that I finished in one day. I sat down to a talking head information dump with Liberal elites trying their worst Russian accents, and got the exact opposite. Amazing, and I'm not sure I'll ever see anything like it again.
(TV-MA)- Physical violence, gun violence, strong gore, profanity, nudity, adult situations, strong tobacco use, strong alcohol use
*Get Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster by Adam Higginbotham on Amazon here*
This massive, five hour television mini-series is a combination of disaster film, political thriller, science jargon, and body horror that completely works on all fronts.
In 1988, Valery (Jared Harris) secrets some audio tapes he's made about his role in the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster before hanging himself (not a spoiler, this literally happens in the opening minutes). We are then taken back to the night of the accident, and knowing now what we didn't know then, watch as first the USSR, and then the world, deals with a monumental catastrophe that has never occured in the history of man before.
I consider this the best television miniseries ever created. The struggling Soviet Union is portrayed brilliantly, with the Russian cultural sense captured in all its glory. Craig Mazin's script is not anti-nuclear, but anti-nuclear accident. The catastrophe almost affected millions of people, and how we were spared from the greatest manmade disaster of all-time by mere hours and smart brainstorming should give everyone pause. One aspect of the script rarely mentioned in other reviews is a subtle but deserved swipe at communism and socialism in general. The State is a lumbering, suffocating bureaucracy, with party members and titles being tossed around at an alarming rate, and the non-thankful peons grinding away for no recognition of their own except the thanks of a few higher-ups. Many modern day socialists would argue that Cold War communism "wasn't done right," but as the United States deals with its own lumbering, suffocating bureaucracy, I'm going to differ.
Ulana (Emily Watson) is a combination of many people who helped Valery and Boris (Stellan Skarsgard) try to figure out how to stop the accident from literally spreading, and finding out why the impossible happened and what to do when it happens again. Mazin's script still carves out Ulana as a well-rounded character, however, and I didn't question that she wasn't a real person until seeing the end coda. The film makers allow forays into supporting character and story arcs, reminding the viewer that there were actual people involved- the young firefighter (Adam Nagaitis) and his wife (Jessie Buckley), the recruit (Barry Keoghan) and his hunting assignment, the coal miners, and harried medical staff all deal with the situation while hampered by the State using an iron fist to control them. They are supported by strong direction from Johan Renck, who helmed all five episodes, so there's is a clear vision that never strays from its intent.
I'm not going to lie, I didn't expect this level of drama, intensity, or wrenching tragedy that I finished in one day. I sat down to a talking head information dump with Liberal elites trying their worst Russian accents, and got the exact opposite. Amazing, and I'm not sure I'll ever see anything like it again.
(TV-MA)- Physical violence, gun violence, strong gore, profanity, nudity, adult situations, strong tobacco use, strong alcohol use
Monday, May 25, 2026
The Dreadful (2026)
*Get "The Dreadful" on Amazon here*
*Get Game of Thrones: A Guide to Westeros and Beyond: The Complete Series by Myles McNutt on Amazon here*
Much excitement was to be had as two cast members of "Game of Thrones" were reunited onscreen in this sloggish Medieval tale. It probably would have meant something to me, as well, if I had ever watched an episode of "Game of Thrones."
Anne (Sophie Tucker) and Morwen (Marcia Gay Harden) wait for Anne's husband/Morwen's son Seamus (Laurence O'Fuarain) to return from war. The two women live together in a small shack, almost starving to death in between trips to church to pray for their loved one. Jago (Kit Harington), who left with Seamus, shows up and tells the women that Seamus was murdered by thieves after they went AWOL from the fighting and decided to return home. Anne grieves for her husband and the life they were going to build together, but she is then attracted to Jago, who has been in love with her since they were kids. Morwen does not like seeing this new coupling, it is an affront to her deep religious beliefs that she ignores when she stabs and kills innocent men in the name of robbing them and selling their pilfered possessions at the local market in order to survive. And what of that mysterious knight on a white horse who keeps showing up in the woods around the women's cabin?
Writer/director Natasha Kermani has crafted an identity crisis. The cinematography is appropriately dim and beautiful. The intrusive musical score sounds like a late night commercial for Zamfir's greatest hits. The cast tries, but aside from a few shots of a cute baby, I could not come up with one sympathetic character. Watching these cretins go through their nihilistic motions in a story that moves at a crawl makes a ninety-four minute film feel twice as long. Anne goes from crumbling beneath the soft-spoken, murderous cruelty of her mother-in-law to a "I am woman, hear me roar" girlboss moment at the climax of the film that feels out of place and narcissistic in light of what is happening in the story. Good on you, Anne, but can we get back to the knight and his mystical helmet?
There are a few eating scenes in the opening moments of the film that turned my stomach worse than watching New York City mayor Bill de Blasio downing french fries during COVID. It's an odd juxtaposition to watch these seemingly starving women take down men with Morwen's trusty blade, as herds of deer frolic in the forest just a few feet away. Jago is a fisherman, but the women still rely on putrid-looking soup to survive. The film tries unsuccessfully to generate suspense, but we already know what Morwen is going to do everytime she crosses paths with a man. Anne doesn't struggle eternally with her mores and values, she seems to judge herself based on how Morwen or Jago tells her to feel. Morwen is not a flamboyant villain, she is a vile person struggling with mental illness and deep justification issues, but Anne is too ensconsed in "her place" to stand up to her.
The trailer for this film gave it a "The Witch"/"Midsommar" vibe. This served as my first watched release of 2026, and nothing more.
MPA Rated (R)- Physical violence, gore, profanity, some sexual references, adult situations
*Get Game of Thrones: A Guide to Westeros and Beyond: The Complete Series by Myles McNutt on Amazon here*
Much excitement was to be had as two cast members of "Game of Thrones" were reunited onscreen in this sloggish Medieval tale. It probably would have meant something to me, as well, if I had ever watched an episode of "Game of Thrones."
Anne (Sophie Tucker) and Morwen (Marcia Gay Harden) wait for Anne's husband/Morwen's son Seamus (Laurence O'Fuarain) to return from war. The two women live together in a small shack, almost starving to death in between trips to church to pray for their loved one. Jago (Kit Harington), who left with Seamus, shows up and tells the women that Seamus was murdered by thieves after they went AWOL from the fighting and decided to return home. Anne grieves for her husband and the life they were going to build together, but she is then attracted to Jago, who has been in love with her since they were kids. Morwen does not like seeing this new coupling, it is an affront to her deep religious beliefs that she ignores when she stabs and kills innocent men in the name of robbing them and selling their pilfered possessions at the local market in order to survive. And what of that mysterious knight on a white horse who keeps showing up in the woods around the women's cabin?
Writer/director Natasha Kermani has crafted an identity crisis. The cinematography is appropriately dim and beautiful. The intrusive musical score sounds like a late night commercial for Zamfir's greatest hits. The cast tries, but aside from a few shots of a cute baby, I could not come up with one sympathetic character. Watching these cretins go through their nihilistic motions in a story that moves at a crawl makes a ninety-four minute film feel twice as long. Anne goes from crumbling beneath the soft-spoken, murderous cruelty of her mother-in-law to a "I am woman, hear me roar" girlboss moment at the climax of the film that feels out of place and narcissistic in light of what is happening in the story. Good on you, Anne, but can we get back to the knight and his mystical helmet?
There are a few eating scenes in the opening moments of the film that turned my stomach worse than watching New York City mayor Bill de Blasio downing french fries during COVID. It's an odd juxtaposition to watch these seemingly starving women take down men with Morwen's trusty blade, as herds of deer frolic in the forest just a few feet away. Jago is a fisherman, but the women still rely on putrid-looking soup to survive. The film tries unsuccessfully to generate suspense, but we already know what Morwen is going to do everytime she crosses paths with a man. Anne doesn't struggle eternally with her mores and values, she seems to judge herself based on how Morwen or Jago tells her to feel. Morwen is not a flamboyant villain, she is a vile person struggling with mental illness and deep justification issues, but Anne is too ensconsed in "her place" to stand up to her.
The trailer for this film gave it a "The Witch"/"Midsommar" vibe. This served as my first watched release of 2026, and nothing more.
MPA Rated (R)- Physical violence, gore, profanity, some sexual references, adult situations
Sunday, May 24, 2026
The Later Wittgenstein and Classical Pragmatism: A Critical Appraisal by Dr. William G. Toland (abstract plus bibliography)
In the mid-1960s, my grandfather earned his Doctorate in Philosophy with a thesis that I have since read. I thought it would be interesting to republish the abstract, and the bibliography he used to write it. I am not a student of philosophy by any stretch of the imagination, and I always admired him for being able to wrap his head around these concepts.
WILLIAM GIPSY TOLAND. The Later Wittgenstein and Classical Pragmatism: A Critical Appraisal. (Under the direction of ELIE MAYNARD ADAMS.)
This essay is a critical inquiry into the Later Wittgenstein and Classical Pragmatism with respect to Aim and Method, Theory of Meaning, and Philosophy of Language. Some contemporary philosophers find evidences of pragmatism in the later Wittgenstein’s major work, the Philosophical Investigations, particularly in the areas of meaning and language. This dissertation attempts to show the sense in which such findings are justified.
It is shown that the statements of the aim of Pragmatism are inconsistent and, if realized, would make of philosophy a handmaiden to the sciences. The pragmatic method is a kind of analysis by which the meanings of ideas and beliefs are explicated so that traditional metaphysical problems may be solved or resolved, and so that persons may more effectively make their way about in indeterminate life situations.
An appraisal of the pragmatic theory of meaning reveals that the meaning of ideas, beliefs, concepts, and linguistic expressions is always a function of their use in our language. This is shown to involve the view that the meaning of expression is the experience one has in saying or hearing it.
The aim of the later Wittgenstein is to show the philosopher how to order his knowledge of the uses of our ordinary language so that he may be relieved of endemic philosophical perplexities, confusion, anxieties, and puzzlement. The method by which he attempts to accomplish this aim is categorical analysis. This involves a description of the uses of significant concepts in ordinary language so that be seeing their roles in different regions of language the philosopher will realize that forcing them into other roles constitutes the source of traditional philosophical problems.
Typical of these problems is the “What is the meaning?” question, which suggests that there is one meaning of a word that can be had provided the proper method of analysis is applied. Wittgenstein shows, on the other hand, that in a large number of cases in which the meaning of a word is in question its meaning is its use in our language. Among many uses of ‘use’ Wittgenstein places considerable emphasis on the ‘effective’ or pragmatic use, but it is not enough to justify the view that he has a pragmatic theory of meaning. The meaning of a word in the latter theory is its use to guide behavior in problematic situations and ordinary forms of life, but for Wittgenstein each word has its own logic or use.
Among the differences between Wittgenstein’s view of language and that of the Pragmatists, the following points are central. Peirce felt that philosophy needs a language peculiar to itself, but Wittgenstein’s view is that philosophy can be done within ordinary language. Dewey views language as a broader phenomenon that does Wittgenstein, more akin to the latter’s “language-game.” For Dewey all language is instrumental, whereas Wittgenstein holds that the logic of some sentences does not include an instrumental function. In the Investigations the function of language is not always to convey thought, but for Dewey communication is the factor that determines language as such. The Pragmatists attempt to outline a theory of language, but Wittgenstein does not attempt to advance any kind of theory.
Despite these dissimilarities Wittgenstein’s remarks concerning “language-game” closely resembles Dewey’s discussion points concerning language. Throughout his investigations there are remarks that warrant ascription of a prope-pragmatism to the later Wittgenstein, and there is evidence to justify the view that his work contains a pragmatic philosophy of language.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
Adams, Elie Maynard (ed.). Categorial Analysis: Selected Essays of Everett W. Hall. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: The University of North Carolina Press, 1964.
Alston, William P. Philosophy of Language. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc., 1964.
Austin, John Langshaw. How To Do Things With Words. New York: Oxford University Press, 1965.
Carnap, Rudolf. Meaning and Necessity. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1947.
Charlesworth, Maxwell John. Philosophy and Linguistics Analysis. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 1959.
Copi, Irving M. Introduction to Logic. 2d ed. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1961.
Cornman, James W. Metaphysics, Reference, and Language. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966.
Dewey, John. Essays in Experimental Logic. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1916.
Dewey, John. Experience and Nature. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1958.
Dewey, John. Logic: The Theory of Inquiry. New York: Henry Holt and Company, Inc., 1938.
Dixon, Robert Malcom Ward. What Is Language? London: Longmans, Green and Company, Ltd., 1965.
Feibleman, James Kern. Inside the Great Mirror. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1958.
Gellner, Ernest. Words and Things. Boston: Beacon Press, 1959.
Haas, William Paul, O. P. The Conception of Law and The Unity of Peirce’s Philosophy. Notre Dame, Indiana: The University of Notre Dame Press, 1964.
Hall, Everett Wesley. Philosophical Systems. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1960.
Hawkins, Denis John Bernard. Crucial Problems of Modern Philosophy. New York: Sheed and Ward, Inc., 1957.
James, William. Collected Essays and Reviews. London: Longmans, Green and Company, 1920.
__________. Pragmatism. New York: Meridian Books, 1955.
__________. Principles of Psychology. 2 vols. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1892.
Katz, Jerrold J. The Philosophy of Language. New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1966.
Lewis, Clarence Irving. Mind and the World Order. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1956.
Mesthene, Emmanuel G. How Language Makes Us Know. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1964.
Passmore, John Arthur. A Hundred Years of Philosophy. London: Gerald Duckworth and Company, Ltd., 1958.
Paul, G. A., et al. The Revolution in Philosophy. London: Macmillan and Company, Ltd., 1957.
Peirce, Charles Sanders. Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce. 8 vols. Edited by Charles Hartshorne, Paul Weiss, and Arthur W. Burks. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1931-58.
__________. Philosophical Writings of Peirce. Edited by Justus Buchler. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1955.
Pitcher, George Willard. The Philosophy of Wittgenstein. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1964.
Pole, David. The Later Philosophy of Wittgenstein. London: The Athlone Press, 1958.
Ramsey, Frank Plumpton. The Foundations of Mathematics. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, Ltd., 1931.
Russell, Bertrand. Philosophy. New York: W. W. Norton Company, 1927.
Schiller, Ferdinand Canning Scott. Logic for Use. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1930.
__________. Studies in Humanism. London: Macmillan and Company, Ltd., n.d.
Waismann, Friedrich. The Principles of Linguistic Philosophy. London: Macmillan and Company, Ltd., 1965.
White, Morton Gabriel. The Age of Analysis. New York: The New American Library of Literature, Inc., 1955.
Wittgenstein, Ludwig. Philosophical Investigations. 2d ed. Translated by G. E. M. Anscombe. Oxford: Basil Blackwell & Mott, Ltd., 1958.
__________. The Blue and Brown Books. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1958.
__________. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., 1922.
Articles and Periodicals
Alston, William Payne. “Meaning and Use,” Philosophical Quarterly, XIII (April, 1963), 107-124.
Balz, Albert G. A., and Dewey, John. “A Letter to Mr. Dewey Concering John Dewey’s Doctrine of Possibility, Published Together With His Reply,” The Journal of Philosophy, XLVI (May, 1949), 313-42.
Chomsky, Noam. “Current Issues in Linguistic Theory,” The Structure of Language. Edited by Jerry A. Fodor and Jerrold J. Katz. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1964.
Cowan, Joseph Lloyd. “Wittgenstein’s Philosophy of Logic,” The Philosophical Review, LXX (July, 1961), 362-75.
Evans, J. L. “On Meaning and Verification,” Mind, LXII (January, 1953), 1-19.
Feyerabend, Paul. “Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations,” The Philosophical Review, LXIV (July, 1955), 449-83.
Haas, W. “On Speaking a Language,” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, N.S., LI (1950-51), 129-66.
Heath, P. L. “Wittgenstein Investigated,” The Philosophical Quarterly, VI (January, 1956), 66-71.
Hook, Sidney. “Pragmatism and Existentialism,” Antioch Review, XIX (Summer, 1959), 151-68.
MacIver, A. M. “The Instrumentality of Language,” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, N.S., LXII (1961-62), 1-20.
Malcolm, Norman. “Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations,” The Philosophical Review, LXIII (October, 1954), 530-59.
Moore, George Edward. “Wittgenstein’s Lectures in 1930-33,” Mind, LXIII (January; July, 1954), 1-15, 289-316; LXIV (January, 1955), 1-27.
Rorty, Richard. “Pragmatism, Categories, and Language,” The Philosophical Review, LXX (April, 1961), 197-223.
Ryle, Gilbert. “Ordinary Language,” The Philosophical Review, LXII (April, 1953), 167-86.
Stebbing, L. Susan. “Logical Positivism and Analysis,” Proceedings of the British Academy, XIX (1933), 53-87.
__________. “The Method of Analysis in Metaphysics,” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, N.S., XXXIII (1932-33), 65-94.
Waismann, Friedrich. “Verfiability,” Logic and Language, First and Second Series. Edited by Antony Flew. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1965.
Wisdom, John. “Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1934-1937,” Mind, LXI (April, 1952), 258-60.
Unpublished Manuscript
Lanfear, Ray. “An Analysis and Evaluation of Wittgenstein’s Locution: Meaning as ‘Use.’” Unpublished Master’s thesis, Baylor University, 1964.
WILLIAM GIPSY TOLAND. The Later Wittgenstein and Classical Pragmatism: A Critical Appraisal. (Under the direction of ELIE MAYNARD ADAMS.)
This essay is a critical inquiry into the Later Wittgenstein and Classical Pragmatism with respect to Aim and Method, Theory of Meaning, and Philosophy of Language. Some contemporary philosophers find evidences of pragmatism in the later Wittgenstein’s major work, the Philosophical Investigations, particularly in the areas of meaning and language. This dissertation attempts to show the sense in which such findings are justified.
It is shown that the statements of the aim of Pragmatism are inconsistent and, if realized, would make of philosophy a handmaiden to the sciences. The pragmatic method is a kind of analysis by which the meanings of ideas and beliefs are explicated so that traditional metaphysical problems may be solved or resolved, and so that persons may more effectively make their way about in indeterminate life situations.
An appraisal of the pragmatic theory of meaning reveals that the meaning of ideas, beliefs, concepts, and linguistic expressions is always a function of their use in our language. This is shown to involve the view that the meaning of expression is the experience one has in saying or hearing it.
The aim of the later Wittgenstein is to show the philosopher how to order his knowledge of the uses of our ordinary language so that he may be relieved of endemic philosophical perplexities, confusion, anxieties, and puzzlement. The method by which he attempts to accomplish this aim is categorical analysis. This involves a description of the uses of significant concepts in ordinary language so that be seeing their roles in different regions of language the philosopher will realize that forcing them into other roles constitutes the source of traditional philosophical problems.
Typical of these problems is the “What is the meaning?” question, which suggests that there is one meaning of a word that can be had provided the proper method of analysis is applied. Wittgenstein shows, on the other hand, that in a large number of cases in which the meaning of a word is in question its meaning is its use in our language. Among many uses of ‘use’ Wittgenstein places considerable emphasis on the ‘effective’ or pragmatic use, but it is not enough to justify the view that he has a pragmatic theory of meaning. The meaning of a word in the latter theory is its use to guide behavior in problematic situations and ordinary forms of life, but for Wittgenstein each word has its own logic or use.
Among the differences between Wittgenstein’s view of language and that of the Pragmatists, the following points are central. Peirce felt that philosophy needs a language peculiar to itself, but Wittgenstein’s view is that philosophy can be done within ordinary language. Dewey views language as a broader phenomenon that does Wittgenstein, more akin to the latter’s “language-game.” For Dewey all language is instrumental, whereas Wittgenstein holds that the logic of some sentences does not include an instrumental function. In the Investigations the function of language is not always to convey thought, but for Dewey communication is the factor that determines language as such. The Pragmatists attempt to outline a theory of language, but Wittgenstein does not attempt to advance any kind of theory.
Despite these dissimilarities Wittgenstein’s remarks concerning “language-game” closely resembles Dewey’s discussion points concerning language. Throughout his investigations there are remarks that warrant ascription of a prope-pragmatism to the later Wittgenstein, and there is evidence to justify the view that his work contains a pragmatic philosophy of language.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
Adams, Elie Maynard (ed.). Categorial Analysis: Selected Essays of Everett W. Hall. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: The University of North Carolina Press, 1964.
Alston, William P. Philosophy of Language. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc., 1964.
Austin, John Langshaw. How To Do Things With Words. New York: Oxford University Press, 1965.
Carnap, Rudolf. Meaning and Necessity. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1947.
Charlesworth, Maxwell John. Philosophy and Linguistics Analysis. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 1959.
Copi, Irving M. Introduction to Logic. 2d ed. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1961.
Cornman, James W. Metaphysics, Reference, and Language. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966.
Dewey, John. Essays in Experimental Logic. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1916.
Dewey, John. Experience and Nature. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1958.
Dewey, John. Logic: The Theory of Inquiry. New York: Henry Holt and Company, Inc., 1938.
Dixon, Robert Malcom Ward. What Is Language? London: Longmans, Green and Company, Ltd., 1965.
Feibleman, James Kern. Inside the Great Mirror. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1958.
Gellner, Ernest. Words and Things. Boston: Beacon Press, 1959.
Haas, William Paul, O. P. The Conception of Law and The Unity of Peirce’s Philosophy. Notre Dame, Indiana: The University of Notre Dame Press, 1964.
Hall, Everett Wesley. Philosophical Systems. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1960.
Hawkins, Denis John Bernard. Crucial Problems of Modern Philosophy. New York: Sheed and Ward, Inc., 1957.
James, William. Collected Essays and Reviews. London: Longmans, Green and Company, 1920.
__________. Pragmatism. New York: Meridian Books, 1955.
__________. Principles of Psychology. 2 vols. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1892.
Katz, Jerrold J. The Philosophy of Language. New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1966.
Lewis, Clarence Irving. Mind and the World Order. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1956.
Mesthene, Emmanuel G. How Language Makes Us Know. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1964.
Passmore, John Arthur. A Hundred Years of Philosophy. London: Gerald Duckworth and Company, Ltd., 1958.
Paul, G. A., et al. The Revolution in Philosophy. London: Macmillan and Company, Ltd., 1957.
Peirce, Charles Sanders. Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce. 8 vols. Edited by Charles Hartshorne, Paul Weiss, and Arthur W. Burks. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1931-58.
__________. Philosophical Writings of Peirce. Edited by Justus Buchler. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1955.
Pitcher, George Willard. The Philosophy of Wittgenstein. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1964.
Pole, David. The Later Philosophy of Wittgenstein. London: The Athlone Press, 1958.
Ramsey, Frank Plumpton. The Foundations of Mathematics. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, Ltd., 1931.
Russell, Bertrand. Philosophy. New York: W. W. Norton Company, 1927.
Schiller, Ferdinand Canning Scott. Logic for Use. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1930.
__________. Studies in Humanism. London: Macmillan and Company, Ltd., n.d.
Waismann, Friedrich. The Principles of Linguistic Philosophy. London: Macmillan and Company, Ltd., 1965.
White, Morton Gabriel. The Age of Analysis. New York: The New American Library of Literature, Inc., 1955.
Wittgenstein, Ludwig. Philosophical Investigations. 2d ed. Translated by G. E. M. Anscombe. Oxford: Basil Blackwell & Mott, Ltd., 1958.
__________. The Blue and Brown Books. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1958.
__________. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., 1922.
Articles and Periodicals
Alston, William Payne. “Meaning and Use,” Philosophical Quarterly, XIII (April, 1963), 107-124.
Balz, Albert G. A., and Dewey, John. “A Letter to Mr. Dewey Concering John Dewey’s Doctrine of Possibility, Published Together With His Reply,” The Journal of Philosophy, XLVI (May, 1949), 313-42.
Chomsky, Noam. “Current Issues in Linguistic Theory,” The Structure of Language. Edited by Jerry A. Fodor and Jerrold J. Katz. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1964.
Cowan, Joseph Lloyd. “Wittgenstein’s Philosophy of Logic,” The Philosophical Review, LXX (July, 1961), 362-75.
Evans, J. L. “On Meaning and Verification,” Mind, LXII (January, 1953), 1-19.
Feyerabend, Paul. “Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations,” The Philosophical Review, LXIV (July, 1955), 449-83.
Haas, W. “On Speaking a Language,” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, N.S., LI (1950-51), 129-66.
Heath, P. L. “Wittgenstein Investigated,” The Philosophical Quarterly, VI (January, 1956), 66-71.
Hook, Sidney. “Pragmatism and Existentialism,” Antioch Review, XIX (Summer, 1959), 151-68.
MacIver, A. M. “The Instrumentality of Language,” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, N.S., LXII (1961-62), 1-20.
Malcolm, Norman. “Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations,” The Philosophical Review, LXIII (October, 1954), 530-59.
Moore, George Edward. “Wittgenstein’s Lectures in 1930-33,” Mind, LXIII (January; July, 1954), 1-15, 289-316; LXIV (January, 1955), 1-27.
Rorty, Richard. “Pragmatism, Categories, and Language,” The Philosophical Review, LXX (April, 1961), 197-223.
Ryle, Gilbert. “Ordinary Language,” The Philosophical Review, LXII (April, 1953), 167-86.
Stebbing, L. Susan. “Logical Positivism and Analysis,” Proceedings of the British Academy, XIX (1933), 53-87.
__________. “The Method of Analysis in Metaphysics,” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, N.S., XXXIII (1932-33), 65-94.
Waismann, Friedrich. “Verfiability,” Logic and Language, First and Second Series. Edited by Antony Flew. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1965.
Wisdom, John. “Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1934-1937,” Mind, LXI (April, 1952), 258-60.
Unpublished Manuscript
Lanfear, Ray. “An Analysis and Evaluation of Wittgenstein’s Locution: Meaning as ‘Use.’” Unpublished Master’s thesis, Baylor University, 1964.
Saturday, May 9, 2026
Betty White: First Lady of Television (2018)
*Get "First Lady of Television: The Betty White Collection" on Amazon here*
*Get If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won't) by Betty White on Amazon here*
This documentary benefits from its lovable subject.
After almost seventy years on television, and some feature films, Betty White was finally slowing down (a little). Up for interviews are former co-stars, with some clips from her first forays into television, her marriage to Allen Ludden, and her sudden second career that started in the early 2000s.
She was a talented, funny actress, but the film makers don't go for a complete picture of her work and life. Ignored are her other sitcoms besides "Life With Elizabeth," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "The Golden Girls," and "Hot in Cleveland." Some spoiler footage from "The Lost Valentine" is played to show her versatility. Everyone loves Betty, and it comes through in the interviews, which seemed to be shot at different times or taken from other documentaries, and the amount of people who have passed away now is shocking- Betty White was 99 when I screened this.
Funny clips, some interesting biographical information, a lovable subject, but there's got to be more out there than this. Less than an hour is NOT enough time to cover seventy years.
Unrated- Some sexual references, some adult situations
*Get If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won't) by Betty White on Amazon here*
This documentary benefits from its lovable subject.
After almost seventy years on television, and some feature films, Betty White was finally slowing down (a little). Up for interviews are former co-stars, with some clips from her first forays into television, her marriage to Allen Ludden, and her sudden second career that started in the early 2000s.
She was a talented, funny actress, but the film makers don't go for a complete picture of her work and life. Ignored are her other sitcoms besides "Life With Elizabeth," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "The Golden Girls," and "Hot in Cleveland." Some spoiler footage from "The Lost Valentine" is played to show her versatility. Everyone loves Betty, and it comes through in the interviews, which seemed to be shot at different times or taken from other documentaries, and the amount of people who have passed away now is shocking- Betty White was 99 when I screened this.
Funny clips, some interesting biographical information, a lovable subject, but there's got to be more out there than this. Less than an hour is NOT enough time to cover seventy years.
Unrated- Some sexual references, some adult situations
Holiday in Handcuffs (2007)
*Get "Holiday in Handcuffs" on Amazon here*
*Get Melissa Explains It All: Tales from My Abnormally Normal Life by Melissa Joan Hart on Amazon here*
Despite the title, NOT an adult film, and oh, how the mighty have fallen! I don't mean the medium-name cast, I'm talking about director Ron Underwood, who helmed the cult classic "Tremors," as well as "City Slickers," "Heart and Souls," "Speechless," "Mighty Joe Young," and, oh, yeah..."The Adventures of Pluto Nash"...okay, I understand now.
Melissa Joan Hart plays a quirky artist Trudie, whose jerk Wall Street boyfriend (this film is VERY anti-Wall Street, anti-capitalism, etc.) breaks up with her. She kidnaps David (Mario Lopez), who has his own awful but rich girlfriend, and presents him as her beau at the family gathering at a conveniently isolated cabin in the woods. Assorted family secrets eventually come out, as Trudie and David grow closer. June Lockhart fails miserably in the wild grandma role probably written for Betty White, and the plot is preposterous and predictable. Hart has a few funny scenes, but unless you've never seen a Hallmark Channel film before (this debuted on the old ABC Family Channel, hence it's mild edginess), this can run dull.
*Get Melissa Explains It All: Tales from My Abnormally Normal Life by Melissa Joan Hart on Amazon here*
Despite the title, NOT an adult film, and oh, how the mighty have fallen! I don't mean the medium-name cast, I'm talking about director Ron Underwood, who helmed the cult classic "Tremors," as well as "City Slickers," "Heart and Souls," "Speechless," "Mighty Joe Young," and, oh, yeah..."The Adventures of Pluto Nash"...okay, I understand now.
Melissa Joan Hart plays a quirky artist Trudie, whose jerk Wall Street boyfriend (this film is VERY anti-Wall Street, anti-capitalism, etc.) breaks up with her. She kidnaps David (Mario Lopez), who has his own awful but rich girlfriend, and presents him as her beau at the family gathering at a conveniently isolated cabin in the woods. Assorted family secrets eventually come out, as Trudie and David grow closer. June Lockhart fails miserably in the wild grandma role probably written for Betty White, and the plot is preposterous and predictable. Hart has a few funny scenes, but unless you've never seen a Hallmark Channel film before (this debuted on the old ABC Family Channel, hence it's mild edginess), this can run dull.
Serviced with a Smile (1979)
*Get The Death of Porn: Men of Integrity Building a World of Nobility by Ray Ortlund on Amazon here*
*Get Brigitte Lahaie: A Pictorial Biography by Dominique Malacarne on Amazon here*
This is a French porno badly dubbed into English, and released on an unsuspecting grindhouse crowd.
Bored and beautiful housewife Barbara (Brigitte Lahaie) and her husband take in a mysterious butler, who promptly turns their household upside down sexually. The film is also a bore, despite Lahaie being easy on the eyes. Yeah, nothing more bourgeois than a loving monogamous relationship! Lahaie, as opposed to many adult film performers (I refuse to use the term "star"), is still around and mystified by the fascination with her early films. Honestly, there is nothing sadder than the pornography industry, a topic that is both taboo but also pulling in billions of dollars every year. Performers' careers are short-lived, but the effect on their bodies and mental state are lifetime sentences. You rarely see performers who handled their choices well, with many of them turning to alcohol, drugs, and suffering early deaths.
I pity the performers here, and their inability to lead normal lives- you can't commit this kind of intimacy to film and not experience some kind of shame and guilt no matter how actors, actresses, and crew have justified it over the past few decades; with many having to explain what they did to their own children- I cannot even imagine what that would do to any offspring- child or adult. Also known as "Couple Cherche Esclave Sexuel."
*Get Brigitte Lahaie: A Pictorial Biography by Dominique Malacarne on Amazon here*
This is a French porno badly dubbed into English, and released on an unsuspecting grindhouse crowd.
Bored and beautiful housewife Barbara (Brigitte Lahaie) and her husband take in a mysterious butler, who promptly turns their household upside down sexually. The film is also a bore, despite Lahaie being easy on the eyes. Yeah, nothing more bourgeois than a loving monogamous relationship! Lahaie, as opposed to many adult film performers (I refuse to use the term "star"), is still around and mystified by the fascination with her early films. Honestly, there is nothing sadder than the pornography industry, a topic that is both taboo but also pulling in billions of dollars every year. Performers' careers are short-lived, but the effect on their bodies and mental state are lifetime sentences. You rarely see performers who handled their choices well, with many of them turning to alcohol, drugs, and suffering early deaths.
I pity the performers here, and their inability to lead normal lives- you can't commit this kind of intimacy to film and not experience some kind of shame and guilt no matter how actors, actresses, and crew have justified it over the past few decades; with many having to explain what they did to their own children- I cannot even imagine what that would do to any offspring- child or adult. Also known as "Couple Cherche Esclave Sexuel."
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