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John McCain’s Private Language Problem

So John McCain now says the "surge" means all of the counter insurgency techniques deployed in Iraq and not just the increase (or "surge") in troops. This not only does violence to common sense (and insults the intelligence of voters), but, as Matt deftly alludes to here, puts him in direct opposition to one of my heroes, Ludwig Wittgenstein, who famously argued that the notion of a private language is incoherent.

As a committed content externalist, I am deeply offended.

Chris Hayes

July 24, 2008

So John McCain now says the “surge” means all of the counter insurgency techniques deployed in Iraq and not just the increase (or “surge”) in troops. This not only does violence to common sense (and insults the intelligence of voters), but, as Matt deftly alludes to here, puts him in direct opposition to one of my heroes, Ludwig Wittgenstein, who famously argued that the notion of a private language is incoherent.

As a committed content externalist, I am deeply offended.

Chris HayesTwitterChris Hayes is the Editor-at-Large of The Nation and host of “All In with Chris Hayes” on MSNBC.


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