Ludwig Wittgenstein

Ludwig Wittgenstein
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Name	Ludwig Wittgenstein
Caption	Wittgenstein in 1930
Birth date	26 April 1889
Birth place	Vienna, Austria-Hungary
Death date	29 April 1951
Death place	Cambridge, England
Education	University of Cambridge (PhD)
Notable works	Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, Philosophical Investigations
School tradition	Analytic philosophy, Linguistic turn, Ordinary language philosophy
Main interests	Philosophy of language, Philosophy of mathematics, Philosophy of mind, Epistemology, Metaphysics
Influences	Arthur Schopenhauer, Gottlob Frege, Bertrand Russell, George Edward Moore, Oswald Spengler
Influenced	Bertrand Russell, George Edward Moore, Frank P. Ramsey, Vienna Circle, Gilbert Ryle, John Langshaw Austin, Peter Strawson, Saul Kripke, Hilary Putnam
Notable ideas	Picture theory of language, Truth tables, Language-game, Private language argument, Family resemblance, Meaning is use, Rule-following, Forms of life

Ludwig Wittgenstein was an Austrian-British philosopher whose revolutionary ideas fundamentally shaped the course of analytic philosophy and philosophy of language in the 20th century. His work is often divided into two distinct phases, represented by his early masterpiece, the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, and his posthumously published later work, Philosophical Investigations. Working primarily at the University of Cambridge, he influenced a generation of thinkers including Bertrand Russell, George Edward Moore, and the Vienna Circle, while his later ideas became central to ordinary language philosophy.

Life and background

Born into one of the wealthiest families in Vienna, his father was the industrialist Karl Wittgenstein. He initially studied mechanical engineering in Berlin and later at the University of Manchester, where his interest in the foundations of mathematics led him to the works of Gottlob Frege. On Frege's advice, he moved to Cambridge in 1911 to study under Bertrand Russell, quickly establishing himself as a philosophical prodigy. He served in the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I, completing the Tractatus while a prisoner of war in Monte Cassino. After abandoning philosophy for a decade, working as a schoolteacher in rural Austria and as a gardener at a monastery, he returned to Cambridge in 1929, succeeding George Edward Moore as professor in 1939. He resigned his chair in 1947 and spent his final years in seclusion in Ireland and Cambridge.

Philosophical work

His early philosophy, encapsulated in the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, proposed the picture theory of language, arguing that language and the world share a common logical form. He famously concluded that what can be said are only propositions of natural science, declaring that "whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent." His later work, most fully expressed in Philosophical Investigations, rejected many of these earlier doctrines. He introduced concepts like language-game and forms of life, arguing that the meaning of a word is its use in a given practice. This period also produced influential arguments such as the private language argument and the notion of family resemblance, challenging traditional views on mind, meaning, and rule-following.

Major works

His seminal early work, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, was published in 1921 with an introduction by Bertrand Russell and became a foundational text for logical positivism. The posthumous Philosophical Investigations, published in 1953, is the primary source for his later philosophy and is considered one of the most important philosophical works of the 20th century. Other significant posthumous publications include The Blue and Brown Books, which were dictated to his students at Cambridge, On Certainty, examining epistemology, and Remarks on the Foundations of Mathematics, which challenged logicism and intuitionism.

Influence and legacy

His early work profoundly influenced the Vienna Circle and the development of logical positivism, while his later ideas became the cornerstone of ordinary language philosophy as practiced at Oxford by figures like Gilbert Ryle and John Langshaw Austin. His thought has had a lasting impact across numerous fields, including linguistics, cognitive science, semiotics, and art criticism. Later philosophers such as Saul Kripke, in Naming and Necessity, and Hilary Putnam have engaged deeply with his arguments on rule-following and meaning. The annual Wittgenstein Symposium in Kirchberg am Wechsel continues scholarly debate on his work.

Personal life and character

He was known for an intense, ascetic, and demanding personality, often described as tormented and charismatic. He gave away his substantial inheritance, lived simply, and was deeply concerned with ethical and religious questions, showing admiration for the writings of Søren Kierkegaard and Saint Augustine. His relationships with colleagues like Bertrand Russell and Frank P. Ramsey were both intellectually fertile and personally fraught. He remained a lifelong seeker, and his final words, reported by his friend Mrs. Bevan in Cambridge, were, "Tell them I've had a wonderful life."

Category:20th-century philosophers Category:Austrian philosophers Category:British philosophers Category:Philosophers of language Category:University of Cambridge faculty