On Esperanto

usage and contrivance in language

pp. 85-92

in: J. C. Nyíri, Tradition and individuality, Berlin, Springer, 1992

Abstract

In an oft-quoted passage of his intellectual autobiography, Rudolf Carnap recounts how vehemently negative Wittgenstein became when, at their very first meeting in 1927, the latter was told about Carnap's interest in "the problem of an international language like Esperanto". "A language which has not "grown organically"", writes Carnap, seemed to Wittgenstein "not only useless but despicable".¹ So: Was Wittgenstein's aversion justified?