Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein (/ˈvɪtɡənʃtaɪn, -staɪn/ VIT-gən-s(h)tyne;[7] German: [ˈluːtvɪç ˈjoːzɛf 'joːhan ˈvɪtɡn̩ʃtaɪn]; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language.[8]
"Wittgenstein" redirects here. For other uses, see Wittgenstein (disambiguation).
Ludwig Wittgenstein
26 April 1889
29 April 1951 (aged 62)
- Austria (until 1939)[5]
- United Kingdom (from 1939)
- Karl Wittgenstein (father)
- Leopoldine Maria Josefa Kalmus (mother)
- Margaret Stonborough-Wittgenstein (sister)
- Paul Wittgenstein (brother)
- Friedrich Hayek (cousin)
- Elementary propositions
- Family resemblance
- Forms of life
- Ideal language analysis
- Language games
- Logical necessity
- Ordinary language philosophy
- Nonsense
- Picture theory of language
- Private language argument
- Quietism
- Rule-following
- States of affairs
- Truth functions
- Truth table
- Meaning as use
- Wittgenstein's ladder
- Wittgenstein's philosophy of mathematics
- Wittgenstein's rod
- Wittgensteinian fideism
- Aspect blindness
1914–1918
Lieutenant
- Military Merit Medal with Swords on the Ribbon
- Silver Medal for Valour, First Class
- Band of the Military Service Medal with Swords
From 1929 to 1947, Wittgenstein taught at the University of Cambridge.[8] In spite of his position, during his entire life only one book of his philosophy was published, the 75-page Logisch-Philosophische Abhandlung (Logical-Philosophical Treatise, 1921), which appeared, together with an English translation, in 1922 under the Latin title Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. His only other published works were an article, "Some Remarks on Logical Form" (1929); a book review; and a children's dictionary.[a][b] His voluminous manuscripts were edited and published posthumously. The first and best-known of this posthumous series is the 1953 book Philosophical Investigations. A 1999 survey among American university and college teachers ranked the Investigations as the most important book of 20th-century philosophy, standing out as "the one crossover masterpiece in twentieth-century philosophy, appealing across diverse specializations and philosophical orientations".[9]
His philosophy is often divided into an early period, exemplified by the Tractatus, and a later period, articulated primarily in the Philosophical Investigations.[10] The "early Wittgenstein" was concerned with the logical relationship between propositions and the world, and he believed that by providing an account of the logic underlying this relationship, he had solved all philosophical problems. The "later Wittgenstein", however, rejected many of the assumptions of the Tractatus, arguing that the meaning of words is best understood as their use within a given language game.[11]
Born in Vienna into one of Europe's richest families, he inherited a fortune from his father in 1913. Before World War I, he "made a very generous financial bequest to a group of poets and artists chosen by Ludwig von Ficker, the editor of Der Brenner, from artists in need. These included Trakl as well as Rainer Maria Rilke and the architect Adolf Loos."[12] Later, in a period of severe personal depression after World War I, he gave away his remaining fortune to his brothers and sisters.[13][14] Three of his four older brothers died by separate acts of suicide. Wittgenstein left academia several times: serving as an officer on the front line during World War I, where he was decorated a number of times for his courage; teaching in schools in remote Austrian villages, where he encountered controversy for using sometimes violent corporal punishment on girls and a boy (the Haidbauer incident) especially during mathematics classes; working during World War II as a hospital porter in London; and working as a hospital laboratory technician at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle upon Tyne. He later expressed remorse for these incidents, and spent the remainder of his life lecturing and attempting to prepare a second manuscript for publication, which was published posthumously as the hugely influential Philosophical Investigations.
1920–1928: Teaching, the Tractatus, Haus Wittgenstein[edit]
Teacher training in Vienna[edit]
In September 1919 he enrolled in the Lehrerbildungsanstalt (teacher training college) in the Kundmanngasse in Vienna. His sister Hermine said that Wittgenstein working as an elementary teacher was like using a precision instrument to open crates, but the family decided not to interfere.[168] Thomas Bernhard, more critically, wrote of this period in Wittgenstein's life: "the multi-millionaire as a village schoolmaster is surely a piece of perversity."[169]
Teaching posts in Austria[edit]
In the summer of 1920, Wittgenstein worked as a gardener for a monastery. At first he applied, under a false name, for a teaching post at Reichenau, was awarded the job, but he declined it when his identity was discovered. As a teacher, he wished to no longer be recognized as a member of the Wittgenstein family. In response, his brother Paul wrote:
Other posthumous publications[edit]
Wittgenstein's archive of unpublished papers included 83 manuscripts, 46 typescripts and 11 dictations, amounting to an estimated 20,000 pages. Choosing among repeated drafts, revisions, corrections, and loose notes, editorial work has found nearly one third of the total suitable for print.[261] An Internet facility hosted by the University of Bergen allows access to images of almost all the material and to search the available transcriptions.[262] In 2011, two new boxes of Wittgenstein papers, thought to have been lost during the Second World War, were found.[263][264]
What became the Philosophical Investigations was already close to completion in 1951. Wittgenstein's three literary executors prioritized it, both because of its intrinsic importance and because he had explicitly intended publication. The book was published in 1953.
At least three other works were more or less finished. Two were already "bulky typescripts", the Philosophical Remarks and Philosophical Grammar. Literary (co-)executor G. H. von Wright stated, "They are virtually completed works. But Wittgenstein did not publish them."[265] The third was Remarks on Colour. "He wrote i.a. a fair amount on colour concepts, and this material he did excerpt and polish, reducing it to a small compass."[266]
Legacy[edit]
Assessment[edit]
Bertrand Russell described Wittgenstein as "perhaps the most perfect example I have ever known of genius as traditionally conceived; passionate, profound, intense, and dominating."[123]
In 1999, a survey among American university and college teachers ranked the Investigations as the most important book of 20th-century philosophy, standing out as "the one crossover masterpiece in twentieth-century philosophy, appealing across diverse specializations and philosophical orientations."[267][268] The Investigations also ranked 54th on a list of most influential twentieth-century works in cognitive science prepared by the University of Minnesota's Center for Cognitive Sciences.[269]
Duncan J. Richter of the Virginia Military Institute, writing for the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, has described Wittgenstein as "one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century, and regarded by some as the most important since Immanuel Kant."[270] Peter Hacker argues that Wittgenstein's influence on 20th-century analytical philosophy can be attributed to his early influence on the Vienna Circle and later influence on the Oxford "ordinary language" school and Cambridge philosophers.[271]
He is considered by some to be one of the greatest philosophers of the modern era.[272]
But despite its deep influence on analytical philosophy, Wittgenstein's work did not always gain a positive reception. Argentine-Canadian philosopher Mario Bunge considers that "Wittgenstein is popular
because he is trivial."[273] In
Bunge's opinion, Wittgenstein's philosophy is trivial because it deals with unimportant
problems and ignores science.[274] According to Bunge, Wittgenstein's
philosophy of language is shallow because it ignores scientific linguistics.[275] Bunge also considers Wittgenstein's philosophy of mind to be speculative because it is not informed by the scientific research performed in psychology.[276]
Scholarly interpretation[edit]
There are many diverging interpretations of Wittgenstein's thought. In the words of his friend and colleague Georg Henrik von Wright:
