Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius

by RayMonk (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  1990

  $26.36

  Born in 1889, Wittgenstein grew up in one of the wealthiest families in Vienna, and here emerged an all-consuming preoccupation with spiritual, ethical and cultural questions. His development as a philosopher began in 1922 when he became a student of Bertrand Russell at Cambridge. The work which he started then culminated in Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus . His concern over philosophical problems was heightened during his time as a soldier in the First World War and confused by the acute difficulties he encountered professionally and personally as a schoolteacher in rural Austria. In his forties he took the decision to return to philosophy. His radical re-thinking of his earlier theory - published posthumously in 1953 as Philosophical Investigations - led him to develop an approach to his subject which has dominated philosophical discourse ever since. Based on Wittgenstein's own papers, his correspondence, and interviews with his friends, family and students, this book is an analysis of the importance of Wittgenstein's work with a portrait of a powerful and compelling man, who is commonly preceived as a tortured genius.

• Used

  Paperback
  1991

  $30.29

  Great philosophical biographies can be counted on one hand. Monk's life of Wittgenstein is such a one. --The Christian Science Monitor.

• New

  paperback
  

  $16.55

  'Monk's energetic enterprise is remarkable for the interweaving of the philosophical and the emotional aspects of Wittgenstein's life' Sunday Times 'Ray Monk's reconnection of Wittgenstein's philosophy with his life triumphantly carries out the Wittgensteinian task of changing the aspect of Wittgenstein's work, getting us to see it in a new way' Sunday Telegraph 'This biography transforms Wittgenstein into a human being' Independent on Sunday 'It is much to be recommended' Observer 'Monk's biography is deeply intelligent, generous to the ordinary reader... It is a beautiful portrait of a beautiful life' Guardian