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person1889–1951

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Disciplines:
philosophy
logic
language
britain/austria/britain

Summary

Austrian-British philosopher — author of the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and Philosophical Investigations — who created two completely different philosophies (early: logic as the limit of language; late: language as family resemblance in forms of life) — the most influential philosopher of the 20th century in the analytic tradition.

Core Contribution

Creates the language game framework for philosophy — Wittgenstein's later philosophy (Philosophical Investigations) argues that philosophical problems arise from language operating outside its natural home, that words get their meaning from use in forms of life rather than from correspondence to reality, and that philosophical therapy consists in returning words to their everyday use.

Key Spikes & Highlights

  • Gave away his entire inheritance — he received one of the largest private fortunes in Austria from his father and gave it entirely away to artists and writers (Rilke, Kokoschka, Trakl) rather than charity, believing that artists needed money more than the poor did; his reasoning was characteristically strange and consistent with his later philosophy of use
  • Threatened Karl Popper with a fireplace poker during a Cambridge philosophical discussion in 1946 — the 'poker incident' is the most mythologized event in 20th century analytic philosophy; whether Wittgenstein was illustrating a philosophical point or actually threatening Popper has been disputed for 75 years

Notable Works & Achievements

Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

Philosophical Investigations

On Certainty

Blue and Brown Books

Historical Influences

Russell Gottlob Frege Augustine

Intellectual Lineage

Vienna Cambridge TractatusSix years as Austrian village schoolteacherPhilosophical Investigations

Contemporaries & Peers

Bertrand Russell G.E. Moore Elizabeth Anscombe

Minds Influenced

Analytic philosophy Oxford ordinary language philosophy

Intellectual Posterity

Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus Philosophical Investigations Language gamesForms of lifePrivate language argumentWittgenstein as 20th century's most important philosopher

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