It could easily be that national character was used as a shorthand, which would make Wittgenstein’s response look bad because holding conversation to a higher standard of precision without warning is quite rude.
But if it’s a shorthand, then it doesn’t actually explain anything. And the risk is that Malcolm thought his statement was an explanation, not a shorthand. Your experience may be different, but most of the encounters I’ve had with the phrase “national character” are intended as explanations. Or in-group identification signals intended to avoid further questions.. But maybe the idiom meant something different in 1940s England.
It could easily be that national character was used as a shorthand, which would make Wittgenstein’s response look bad because holding conversation to a higher standard of precision without warning is quite rude.
But if it’s a shorthand, then it doesn’t actually explain anything. And the risk is that Malcolm thought his statement was an explanation, not a shorthand. Your experience may be different, but most of the encounters I’ve had with the phrase “national character” are intended as explanations. Or in-group identification signals intended to avoid further questions.. But maybe the idiom meant something different in 1940s England.