(written for the course Modernism and Postmodernism Period by Wesleyan University)
The concept of ordinary, according to Cambridge Dictionary, is that something is not unusual or special at any way. Ludwig Joseph Johann Wittgenstein was an Austrian-British philosopher who based his works mainly in linguistic, logic, math and mind philosophy fields, and studied the ordinary language in his Philosophical Investigations, published in 1953, where he debates that a typical philosophical text has a problem that must be approached, argued and solved “That philosophical concept of meaning has its place in a primitive idea of the way language functions”, which may include simple words or short phrases, for instance the words ‘water, please’. It is simple, ordinary and conclusive. And he continues: “When a child learns this language, it has to learn the series of ‘numerals’ a, b, c, … by heart.”, there is no grammar structure, synthetic functions or linguistic logic taught before. It is observed that a child starts speaking by imitating simple vocabulary, which leads to a complex understanding. A child who would say ‘monster’ before going to bed would be clearly communicating his fear of the dark and probably of sleeping alone, which led him imagine such monster is his bedroom, hence his parents were expected to doing something about it, like leaving a lamp on all night long or waiting for him to sleep before leaving the room.
Wittgenstein also exhaustedly explained that “Every word in language signifies something” even if it means nothing. A sigh like ‘Oh dear’ is not intentionally directed to someone, it is just a sentence to express an inner idea that is coming to one’s mind in that exact moment. Another example should be when a person says a word and “the expression of the face, the play of the eyes, the movement of other parts of the body, and the tone of the voice which expresses our state of mind in seeking, having, rejecting, or avoiding something” makes all the difference when it comes to interpretation.
In contrast, the American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that being ordinary is related to be self-assured as we read in Self-Reliance published in 1841. Emerson argues that polite society has an adverse effect on one’s personal growth. Not only language is the base of the philosophical debate but also the impulse, his love, the moral taught, the religion inserted, the society and the group that the individual belongs to: “There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion”, so, having an ordinary speech is far from being just words randomly taught by his surrounders. If he doesn’t think properly before speaking his mind, he might fight against people’s rage opposing to him: “A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best; but what he has said or done otherwise, shall give him no peace.”
Another example is about the young people, who tend to be more controversial in the society he is inserted “Do not think the youth has no force, because he cannot speak to you and me. Hark! in the next room his voice is sufficiently clear and emphatic. It seems he knows how to speak to his contemporaries. Bashful or bold, then, he will know how to make us seniors very unnecessary.” In this excerpt, we can clearly understand that the group where these ‘kids’ belong to can understand each other, they argue, communicate, debate, they develop. But grown up society won’t understand it this way: “Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members.” So, indeed, being in society means having our thoughts negatively impacted and our soul consumed by what others would rather listen from us instead our real instincts and ideas. Avoid conformity would be necessary if one wants to be more than just ordinarily exist.
Bibliography
Emerson, Ralph Waldo – Self-Reliance, 1841
Wittgenstein, Ludwig Joseph Johann – Philosophical Investigations, 195