Themen - wartmann

Mögliche Themen und Fragestellungen zum PIK «Logic and Maths in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures
in Wonderland»
S.32/33:
«Come, there’s no use in crying like that!» said Alice to herself, rather sharply. «I advise you to leave off
this minute!» She generally gave herself very good advice, (though she very seldom followed it), and
sometimes she scolded herself so severely as to bring tears into her eyes; and once she remembered
trying to box her own ears for having cheated herself in a game of croquet she was playing against
herself, for this curious child was very fond of pretending to be two people.
Welche Handlungen kann man nur gegenüber einer Drittperson ausführen und nicht gegenüber sich
selbst? Welche Haltungen kann man nur gegenüber Drittpersonen einnehmen und nicht gegenüber sich
selbst? Wieso?
S.37:
«Dear, dear! How queer everything is today! And yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder if I’ve
been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can
remember feeling a little different. But if I’m not the same, the next question is, ‚Who in the world am I?’
Ah, that’s the great puzzle!» And she began thinking over all the children she knew that were of the
same age as herself, to see if she could have been changed for any of them.
Identität: Was macht mich zu mir selber, obwohl ich mich dauernd verändere?
S. 47:
«…and even Stigand, the patriotic archbishop of Canterbury, found it advisable–»
«Found what?» said the Duck.
«Found it», the Mouse replied rather crossly; «of course you know what ‚it’ means.»
«I know what ‚it’ means well enough, when I find a thing», said the Duck: «it’s generally a frog or a worm.
The question is, what did the archbishop find?»
Wie funktioniert das «es» in Sätzen wie demjenigen der Maus?
S. 51:
Gedichte und andere Texte, deren Form etwas über ihren Inhalt verrät. (Beispiele dazu z.B. in
«Gödel/Escher/Bach»)
S.76:
«No, no! You’re a serpent; and there’s no use denying it. I suppose you’ll be telling me next that you
never tasted an egg!»
«I have tasted eggs, certainly,» said Alice, who was a very truthful child; «but little girls eat eggs quite as
much as serpents do, you know.»
«I don’t believe it», said the Pigeon; «but if they do, why, then the’re a kind of serpent: that’s all I can
say.»
Welchen Fehlschluss begeht die Taube? Weitere Beispiele dazu? Weitere Fehlschlüsse? Gültige
Schlüsse? (Mehr dazu in «The Game of Logic»)
S. 88:
«Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?»
«That depends a good deal on where you want to get to», said the Cat.
«I don’t much care where–» said Alice.
«then it doesn’t matter which way you go», said the Cat.
«–so long as I get somewhere», Alice added as an explanation.
«Oh, you’re sure to do that», said the Cat, «if you only walk long enough.»
Alice felt that this could not be denied…
Wieso ist Alice’s Bemerkung so inhaltsleer? Wie funktionieren Ausdrücke wie «irgendwo, irgendwann,
irgendwer»?
S. 91:
«Well! I’ve often seen a cat without a grin», thought Alice; «but a grin without a cat! It’s the most curious
thing I ever saw in all my life!»
Was macht diesen berühmten Satz so verblüffend? (Man kann hier die Brücke schlagen zu
Sartre’scher Phänomenologie – Erwartungshaltungen eröffnen einen Raum des Nichts, der ganz anders
beschaffen ist als eine reine Abwesenheit.)
S. 95/S.97:
«Why is a raven like a writing-desk?»
…
«Have you guessed the riddle yet?» the Hatter said, turning to Alice again.
«No, I give it up», Alice replied.
«What’s the answer?»
«I haven’t the slightest idea», said the Hatter.
«Nor I», said the March Hare.
Mögliche Antworten auf das Rätsel? Was hätte man vom Hutmacher erwartet, weshalb ist seine
Haltung so überraschend?
S.95:
«Then you should say what you mean», the March Hare went on.
«I do», Alice hastily replied; «at least – at least I mean what I say – that’s the same thing, you know».
«Not the same thing a bit!» said the Hatter. «Why, you might just as well say that ‚I see what I eat’ is the
same thing as ‚I eat what I see’!»
«You might just as well say», added the March Hare, «that ‚I like what I get’ is the same thing as ‚I get
what I like’!»
Wer hat Recht – Alice oder Hutmacher und Märzhase?
S.101:
«Take some more tea», the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.
«I’ve had nothing yet,» Alice replied in an offended tone: «so I can’t take more.»
«You mean you can’t take less», said the Hatter: «it’s very easy to take more than nothing.»
Wie funktioniert der Witz? Welche anderen Ausdrücke gibt es, welche zu ähnlichen Witzen führen
können?
S. 116/117:
The executioner’s argument was, that you couldn’t cut off a head unless there was a body to cut if off
from: that he had never had to do such a thing before, and he wasn’t going to begin at his time of life.
The King’s argument was, that anything that had a head could be beheaded, and that you weren’t to talk
nonsense.
The Queen’s argument was that, if something wasn’t done about it in less than no time, she’d have
everybody executed, all round.»
Was ist der Disput zwischen Scharfrichter und König?
S. 156/157:
«… this paper has just been picked up.»
«What’s in it?» said the Queen.
«I haven’t opened it yet,» said the White Rabbit; «but it seems to be a letter, written by the prisoner to –
to somebody.»
«It must have been that», said the King, «unless it was written to nobody, which isn’t usual, you know.»
Gleiche Thematik (somebody / somewhere etc.) wie S. 88
Through the Looking Glass
S. 191:
Interpretation von «Jabberwocky»? Nonsense-Gedichte allgemein
S. 236/237:
«I like the Walrus best», said Alice, «because he was a little sorry for the poor oysters.»
«He ate more than the Carpenter, though,» said Tweedledee. «You see he held his handkerchief in
front, so that the Carpenter couldn’t count how many he took: contrariwise.»
«That was mean!» Alice said indignantly. «Then I like the Carpenter best – if he didn’t eat so many as
the Walrus.»
«But he ate as many as he could get,» said Tweedledum.
This was a puzzler.
Wer ist moralisch höher zu werten – das Walross oder der Zimmermann?
S. 247:
«But really you should have a lady’s-maid!»
«I’m sure I’ll take you with pleasure!» the Queen said. «Twopence a week, and jam every other day.»
Alice couldn’t help laughing, as she said «I don’t want you to hire me – and I don’t care for jam.»
«It’s very good jam,» said the Queen.
«Well, I don’t want any to-day, at any rate.»
«You couldn’t have it if you did want it,» the Queen said. «The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday
– but never jam to-day.»
«It must come sometimes to ‚jam today’», Alice objected.
«No, it can’t, said the Queen. «It’s jam every other day: to-day isn’t any other day, you know.»
Indexikalische Ausdrücke
«Living backwards!» Alice repeated in great astonishment. «I never heard of such a thing!»
«–but there’s one great advantage in it, that one’s memory works both ways.»
«I’m sure mine only works one way,» Alice remarked. «I can’t remember things before they happen.»
«It’s a poor sort of memory that only works backwards,» the Queen remarked.
«What sort of things do you remember best?» Alice ventured to ask.
«Oh, things that happened the week after next,» the Queen replied in a careless tone. «For instance,
now,» she went on, sticking a large piece of plaster on her finger as she spoke, «there’s the King’s
messenger. He’s in prison now, being punished: and the trial doesn’t even begin till next Wednesday:
and of course the crime comes last of all.»
«Suppose he never commits the crime?» said Alice.
Verschiedene mögliche Themen zu dieser Stelle: Szenario des «Rückwärts-Lebens» (Filme, Literatur
dazu); Was ist Erinnerung?; Determinismus (Wenn jetzt schon klar ist, dass ich ein Verbrechen begehe,
welche Freiheit habe ich noch, dies nicht zu tun? «Minority Report» als Beispiel)
S. 279/281/282:
«And I haven’t sent the two Messengers, either. They’re both gone to the town. Just look along the road,
and tell me if you can see either of them.»
«I see nobody on the road,» said Alice.
«I only wish I had such eyes,» the King remarked in a fretful tone. «To be able to see Nobody! And at
that distance too! Why, it’s as much as I can do to see real people, by this light!»
…
«Who did you pass on the road?» the King went on, holding out his hand to the Messenger for some
more hay.
«Nobody,» said the Messenger.
«Quite right,» said the King: «this young lady saw him too. So of course Nobody walks slower than you.»
«I do my best,» the Messenger said in a sullen tone. «I’m sure nobody walks much faster than I do!»
«He can’t do that,» said the King, «or else he’d have been here first. …»
Worauf beruht der Scherz? Zyklopenlogik, Quantoren
S. 323:
«Do you know Languages? What’s the French for fiddle-de-dee?»
«Fiddle-de-dee’s not English,» Alice replied gravely.
«Who ever said it was?» said the Red Queen.
Alice thought she saw a way out of the difficulty, this time. «If you’ll tell me what language ‚fidlle-de-dee’
is, I’ll tell you the French for it!» she exclaimed triumphantly.
But the Red Queen drew herself up rather stiffly, and said «Queens never make bargains.»
Sprachen und Übersetzungen (auch in Zusammenhang mit den Nonsense-Gedichten)
S. 345:
Akrostichon (Wortfolge, deren Anfangsbuchstaben oder Anfangswörter, hintereinander gelesen, einen
Sinn ergeben)