The Idea of North: The Topography of Thought in Ludwig Wittgenstein's Retreat to Norway
Guy Moreton
Creative and Digital Industries Research and Innovation Hub
Research output: Published contribution to conference › Paper › peer-review
Ludwig Wittgenstein's solitary walks in the landscape surrounding his pastoral retreat – a simple cottage or hytte – in Skjolden, on the north-west coast of Norway allowed him to 'do philosophy', through what he described as denkbewegungen ¬– thinking through walking – ¬whilst making observations of the mountainous fjord landscape that would, eventually, give him the space he needed to complete extensive and important manuscripts on logic and language. Wittgenstein's desire for a simple life, defined through an ascetic rigour that, away from Cambridge and settled in his house built on a rocky outcrop with a view over Lake Eidsvatnet at the inner end of the Sognefjord – allowed him to devote himself entirely to his work. My own walks in Skjolden, made in collaboration with the artist and poet Alec Finlay attempted to uncover something of the extraordinary character of the landscape in Skjolden, and in doing so, reveal the contemplative side of Wittgenstein. The house no longer exists; instead the ruins of the rock foundations where the house stood – stand for the possibility and the place of thought. My photographs of these pastoral landscapes (published in Ludwig Wittgenstein There Where You Are Not, Black Dog London) attempt to 'bring forth' connections posed by questions about our relationship to place, and what effect places might have on us. Robert Macfarlane asks two poignant questions in his essay 'Unrecounted' (Guy Moreton, Unrecounted, 2012): 'firstly, what do I know when I am in this place that I can know nowhere else? And then, vainly, what does this place know of me that I cannot know of myself?' Perhaps the answers to these questions lie in that dialogical space where language might offer up an alternative meaning, where the visual and photographic space act as an enabler and a platform for thought and image – images in Denkbewegungen that 'have been brought into being by means of motion along a path'. (Macfarlane).
Northern Light: Landscape, Photography and Evocations of the North - Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield
Duration: 1 Jul 2016 → 1 Jul 2016
Northern Light: Landscape Photography and Evocations of the North – convened by Darcy White and Chris Goldie and hosted by the Media Arts & Communication Department, Sheffield Hallam University in July 2016. The objectives were to create a forum of productive interdisciplinarity within which scholars and practitioners could exchange ideas and experiences, share their work, and begin to evolve critical positions around the notion of a Northern landscape photography and its relationship to place.
Dive into the research topics of 'The Idea of North: The Topography of Thought in Ludwig Wittgenstein's Retreat to Norway'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
Ludwig Wittgenstein Arts & Humanities 100%
Retreat Arts & Humanities 60%
Topography Arts & Humanities 59%
Norway Arts & Humanities 59%
Thought Arts & Humanities 33%
Alec Finlay Arts & Humanities 29%
Black Dog Arts & Humanities 25%
Northwest Coast Arts & Humanities 21%
Moreton, G. (2016). The Idea of North: The Topography of Thought in Ludwig Wittgenstein's Retreat to Norway. Paper presented at Northern Light, Sheffield.
Moreton, Guy. / The Idea of North: The Topography of Thought in Ludwig Wittgenstein's Retreat to Norway. Paper presented at Northern Light, Sheffield.
@conference{776f8a81461c46d2bf8336e84b1166c8,
title = "The Idea of North: The Topography of Thought in Ludwig Wittgenstein's Retreat to Norway",
abstract = "Ludwig Wittgenstein{\textquoteright}s solitary walks in the landscape surrounding his pastoral retreat – a simple cottage or hytte – in Skjolden, on the north-west coast of Norway allowed him to {\textquoteleft}do philosophy{\textquoteright}, through what he described as denkbewegungen ¬– thinking through walking – ¬whilst making observations of the mountainous fjord landscape that would, eventually, give him the space he needed to complete extensive and important manuscripts on logic and language. Wittgenstein{\textquoteright}s desire for a simple life, defined through an ascetic rigour that, away from Cambridge and settled in his house built on a rocky outcrop with a view over Lake Eidsvatnet at the inner end of the Sognefjord – allowed him to devote himself entirely to his work. My own walks in Skjolden, made in collaboration with the artist and poet Alec Finlay attempted to uncover something of the extraordinary character of the landscape in Skjolden, and in doing so, reveal the contemplative side of Wittgenstein. The house no longer exists; instead the ruins of the rock foundations where the house stood – stand for the possibility and the place of thought. My photographs of these pastoral landscapes (published in Ludwig Wittgenstein There Where You Are Not, Black Dog London) attempt to {\textquoteleft}bring forth{\textquoteright} connections posed by questions about our relationship to place, and what effect places might have on us. Robert Macfarlane asks two poignant questions in his essay {\textquoteleft}Unrecounted{\textquoteright} (Guy Moreton, Unrecounted, 2012): {\textquoteleft}firstly, what do I know when I am in this place that I can know nowhere else? And then, vainly, what does this place know of me that I cannot know of myself?{\textquoteright} Perhaps the answers to these questions lie in that dialogical space where language might offer up an alternative meaning, where the visual and photographic space act as an enabler and a platform for thought and image – images in Denkbewegungen that {\textquoteleft}have been brought into being by means of motion along a path{\textquoteright}. (Macfarlane).",
author = "Guy Moreton",
note = "Northern Light : Landscape, Photography and Evocations of the North ; Conference date: 01-07-2016 Through 01-07-2016",
Moreton, G 2016, 'The Idea of North: The Topography of Thought in Ludwig Wittgenstein's Retreat to Norway', Paper presented at Northern Light, Sheffield, 1/07/16 - 1/07/16.
The Idea of North: The Topography of Thought in Ludwig Wittgenstein's Retreat to Norway. / Moreton, Guy.
2016. Paper presented at Northern Light, Sheffield.
T1 - The Idea of North: The Topography of Thought in Ludwig Wittgenstein's Retreat to Norway
AU - Moreton, Guy
N2 - Ludwig Wittgenstein's solitary walks in the landscape surrounding his pastoral retreat – a simple cottage or hytte – in Skjolden, on the north-west coast of Norway allowed him to 'do philosophy', through what he described as denkbewegungen ¬– thinking through walking – ¬whilst making observations of the mountainous fjord landscape that would, eventually, give him the space he needed to complete extensive and important manuscripts on logic and language. Wittgenstein's desire for a simple life, defined through an ascetic rigour that, away from Cambridge and settled in his house built on a rocky outcrop with a view over Lake Eidsvatnet at the inner end of the Sognefjord – allowed him to devote himself entirely to his work. My own walks in Skjolden, made in collaboration with the artist and poet Alec Finlay attempted to uncover something of the extraordinary character of the landscape in Skjolden, and in doing so, reveal the contemplative side of Wittgenstein. The house no longer exists; instead the ruins of the rock foundations where the house stood – stand for the possibility and the place of thought. My photographs of these pastoral landscapes (published in Ludwig Wittgenstein There Where You Are Not, Black Dog London) attempt to 'bring forth' connections posed by questions about our relationship to place, and what effect places might have on us. Robert Macfarlane asks two poignant questions in his essay 'Unrecounted' (Guy Moreton, Unrecounted, 2012): 'firstly, what do I know when I am in this place that I can know nowhere else? And then, vainly, what does this place know of me that I cannot know of myself?' Perhaps the answers to these questions lie in that dialogical space where language might offer up an alternative meaning, where the visual and photographic space act as an enabler and a platform for thought and image – images in Denkbewegungen that 'have been brought into being by means of motion along a path'. (Macfarlane).
AB - Ludwig Wittgenstein's solitary walks in the landscape surrounding his pastoral retreat – a simple cottage or hytte – in Skjolden, on the north-west coast of Norway allowed him to 'do philosophy', through what he described as denkbewegungen ¬– thinking through walking – ¬whilst making observations of the mountainous fjord landscape that would, eventually, give him the space he needed to complete extensive and important manuscripts on logic and language. Wittgenstein's desire for a simple life, defined through an ascetic rigour that, away from Cambridge and settled in his house built on a rocky outcrop with a view over Lake Eidsvatnet at the inner end of the Sognefjord – allowed him to devote himself entirely to his work. My own walks in Skjolden, made in collaboration with the artist and poet Alec Finlay attempted to uncover something of the extraordinary character of the landscape in Skjolden, and in doing so, reveal the contemplative side of Wittgenstein. The house no longer exists; instead the ruins of the rock foundations where the house stood – stand for the possibility and the place of thought. My photographs of these pastoral landscapes (published in Ludwig Wittgenstein There Where You Are Not, Black Dog London) attempt to 'bring forth' connections posed by questions about our relationship to place, and what effect places might have on us. Robert Macfarlane asks two poignant questions in his essay 'Unrecounted' (Guy Moreton, Unrecounted, 2012): 'firstly, what do I know when I am in this place that I can know nowhere else? And then, vainly, what does this place know of me that I cannot know of myself?' Perhaps the answers to these questions lie in that dialogical space where language might offer up an alternative meaning, where the visual and photographic space act as an enabler and a platform for thought and image – images in Denkbewegungen that 'have been brought into being by means of motion along a path'. (Macfarlane).
UR - http://www.northernlight.photos/about/
T2 - Northern Light
Y2 - 1 July 2016 through 1 July 2016
Moreton G. The Idea of North: The Topography of Thought in Ludwig Wittgenstein's Retreat to Norway. 2016. Paper presented at Northern Light, Sheffield.