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Ludwig Wittgenstein
[1889-1951]
 | short profile |
“Wittgenstein [is] the philosopher of poets and composers, playwrights, and novelists.” “What is your aim in philosophy? To show the fly the way out of the fly-bottle.”
“How hard I find it to see what is right in front of my eyes!”
“The limits of my language are the limits of my world.”
— Ludwig Wittgenstein “[Wittgenstein] makes a moral issue out of absolutely everything.” ~~~ housemate Lettice Baker Ramsey
In his lifetime, Ludwig Wittgenstein published only one book review, one article, a children's dictionary,
and the 75-page "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus" [1921]. His posthumously-published "Philosophical Investigations" [1953]
was ranked in 1999 as the most important book of XXth-Century philosophy.
— critic Terry Eagleton, circa 1993
BIO
text
here
Ludwig Wittgenstein entry at Wikipedia
browse the Ludwig Wittgenstein Store {100+ titles} at Amazon
search for books by/about Ludwig Wittgenstein {600+ titles} at Amazon
Major Works
"Logisch-Philosophische Abhandlung" in Annalen der Naturphilosophie, 14 [1921]
"Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus" 1922 translation by C.K. Ogden
"Philosophische Untersuchungen" [1953]
"Philosophical Investigations, translated by G.E.M. Anscombe (1953)
"Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus" [1922/1923] online German text and Ogden-Ramsey translation
http://www.kfs.org/~jonathan/witt/tlph.html
A collection of Ludwig Wittgenstein's manuscripts is held by Trinity College, Cambridge, U.K
works by Ludwig Wittgenstein at Project Gutenberg
http://www.gutenberg.org/author/Ludwig+Wittgenstein
Wittgenstein Archives at the University of Bergen
http://wab.aksis.uib.no/index.page
Other Works & Interpretations
"Philosophische Bemerkungen" [1964] Edited by Rush Rhees
"Philosophical Remarks" [1975] and "Philosophical Grammar" [1978]
"Letters From Ludwig Wittgenstein" [Basil Blackwell, 1967] Edited by Paul Engelmann
"Bemerkungen über die Farben" [1977] Edited by G.E.M. Anscombe
English "Remarks On Colour" [1991] remarks on Goethe's "Theory of Colours"
"Wittgenstein's Lectures On The Foundations of Mathematics"
[Univ Chicago Press, 1989] Edited by Cora Diamond
"Wittgenstein On Ethics and Religious Belief" [Blackwell, 1991] by Cyril Barrett
 | "The Wittgenstein Reader" [2005] by Sir Anthony Kenny
Wiley-Blackwell 2nd edition 9x6 pb [8/00] for $45.54 Wiley-Blackwell 2nd edition 9¼x6¼ hardcover [12/2005] for $148.95 {sic} |
"Wittgenstein In Cambridge: Letters and Documents, 1911-1951"
[Wiley-Blackwell, 2008] Edited by Brian McGuinness
Books About Ludwig Wittgenstein
"Ludwig Wittgenstein: A Memoir" [Oxford Univ Press, 1958] by Norman Malcolm
"Wittgenstein" [1973] by William Warren Bartley
"The Architecture of Ludwig Wittgenstein: A Documentation" [Press of the Nova Scotia College
of Art & Design, 1973] by Bernhard Leitner
"The Danger of Words and Writings On Wittgenstein" [Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1973]
by Maurice O'Connor Drury
"Wittgenstein: Understanding and Meaning" [Blackwell, 1980] by G.P. Baker & P.M.S. Hacker
"Wittgenstein: Rules, Grammar, and Necessity" [Blackwell, 1985] by G.P. Baker & P.M.S. Hacker
 | "Einstein, Gertrude Stein, Wittgenstein & Frankenstein: Re-inventing The Universe" [1986] by science writer John Brockman
Viking Adult hardcover [4/86] out of print/many used |
"Ludwig Wittgenstein: Critical Assessments" [Croom Helm, 1986] Edited by S. & V.A. Shanker
http://www.amazon.com/Ludwig-Wittgenstein-Critical-Assessments-Philosophers/dp/0415149185/ 2001
"Wittgenstein" biography [Sep 1986] by A. J. Ayer
http://www.amazon.com/Wittgenstein-A-J-Ayer/dp/0226033376/
"Insight and Illusion: Themes In The Philosophy of Wittgenstein"
[orig 1972; rev Clarendon Press, 1987] by P.M.S. Hacker
"The World As I Found It: A Recreation of Wittgenstein's Life"
[Ticknor & Fields, 1987] by Bruce Duffy
"The False Prison: A Study of The Development of Wittgenstein's Philosophy"
[Oxford Univ Press, Volume 1 1987 & Volume 1988] by David F. Pears
"Wittgenstein: A Life - Young Ludwig 1889-1921" [Univ California Press, 1988]
by Brian McGuinness
"Wittgenstein and Kierkegaard: Religion, Individuality and Philosophical Method"
[Routledge, 1989] by Charles Creegan
"Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius" [Free Press, 1990] by Ray Monk
http://www.amazon.com/Ludwig-Wittgenstein-The-Duty-Genius/dp/0140159959/
"Wittgenstein: Meaning and Mind" [Blackwell, 1990] by G.P. Baker & P.M.S. Hacker
"Pulling Up The Ladder: The Metaphysical Roots of Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus"
[Open Court, 1990] by Richard R. Brockhaus
"Wittgenstein's Place In Twentieth Century Analytic Philosophy" [Blackwell, 1996] by P.M.S. Hacker
"Wittgenstein: Mind and Will" [Blackwell, 1996] by P.M.S. Hacker
"The Cambridge Companion To Wittgenstein" [Cambridge Univ Press, 1996]
Edited by Hans D. Sluga = berkeley.edu/~hsluga/
http://www.amazon.com/Cambridge-Companion-Wittgenstein-Companions-Philosophy/dp/0521465915/
"Wittgenstein's Ladder: Poetic Language and The Strangeness of The Ordinary"
[Univ Chicago Press, 1996] by Marjorie Perloff
 | "Wittgenstein in 90 Minutes" [1996] by Paul Strathern Ivan R. Dee, Publr 8x5 pb [10/96] for $5.95 Ivan R. Dee, Publr 8¼x5¼ hardcover [10/96] for $14.95 |
 | "Introducing Wittgenstein" [1996] by John Heaton & Judy Groves Icon/Totem 8x5½ pb [10/2005] for $11.01 Icon/Totem 8x5½ pb [10/96] for $9.31 |
 | "Clear and Queer Thinking: Wittgenstein's Development and His Relevance To Modern Thought" [1999] by Laurence Goldstein
Rowman & Littlefield 9x6 pb [4/99] out of print/many used Rowman & Littlefield 9¼x6½ hardcover [4/99] for $102.00 {sic} |
 | "Wittgenstein's Poker: The Story of A Ten-Minute Argument Between Two Great Philosophers" [2001 bestseller] by David Edmonds & John Eidinow
In October 1946, Austrian philosopher Karl Popper was invited to lecture at Cambridge Uni-versity in England. A meeting was arranged with fellow Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein, along with their common mentor Bertrand Russell. But the great minds clashed from the beginning, sparks flew, and Wittgenstein supposedly threatened Popper with a fireplace poker. Accounts of witnesses vary in extreme, and the authors here attempt to determine the facts. Harper Perennial 7¼x5¼ pb [9/2002] for $9.64 Faber & Faber 7½x5 pb [4/2002] out of print/used Ecco Press 7¼x5¼ hardcover [10/2001] out of print/scores used |
"Wittgenstein: Biography and Philosophy" [Cambridge University Press, 2001] by James Carl Klagge
"Wittgenstein: A Very Short Introduction" [Oxford Univ Press, 7/2001] by A.C. Grayling 9780192854117
http://www.amazon.com/Wittgenstein-Very-Short-Introduction-Introductions/dp/0192854119/
"Feminist Interpretations of Ludwig Wittgenstein" [Penn State Press, 2002]
Edited by Naomi Scheman & Peg O'Connor
"Wittgenstein: From A New Point of View" [Wittgenstein-Studien, 2003]
by J. Padilla Gálvez ISBN 3-631-50623-6.
"Ludwig Wittgenstein: Public and Private Occasions" [Rowman & Littlefield, 2003]
Edited by James Carl Klagge & Alfred Nordmann
"How To Read Wittgenstein" [9/2005] by Ray Monk
http://www.amazon.com/How-Read-Wittgenstein-Ray-Monk/dp/0393328201/
"Wittgenstein" biography [Jan 2006] by Sir Anthony Kenny
http://www.amazon.com/Wittgenstein-Sir-Anthony-Kenny/dp/1405136553/
"Ludwig Wittgenstein" [Reaktion Books, 2007] by Edward Kanterian
"Wittgenstein and The Moral Life: Essays In Honor of Cora Diamond" [5/2007] Edited by Alice Crary
http://www.amazon.com/Wittgenstein-Moral-Life-Diamond-Representation/dp/0262532867/
"House of Wittgenstein: A Family At War" [Random House of Canada, 2008] by Alexander Waugh
"Philosophical Anthropology. Wittgenstein’s Perspectives" [Ontos Verlag, 2010]
by J. Padilla Gálvez ISBN 978-3-86838-067-5
 | "Time of The Magicians: Wittgenstein, Benjamin, Cassirer, Heidegger, and The Decade That Reinvented Philosophy" [2020] by Wolfram Eilenberger author stylishly traces the paths of these remarkable & turbulent lives, which feature not only philosophy but several important figures of the early century, including John Maynard Keynes, Hannah Arendt, and Bertrand Russell, telling a gripping story about four of history's most ambitious and passionate thinkers Kindle Edition from Penguin Press [8/2020] for $15.99 Penguin Books 8½x5½ pb [DUE Aug 2021] for $19.00 
Penguin Press 9½x6¼ hardcover [8/2020] for $21.06 |
Other Media
incomplete Wittgenstein credits at Internet Movie Database
"Ludwig Wittgenstein: Biographische und Philosophische Untersuchungen (Biographical & Philosophical
Investigations)" [Westdeutscher Rundfunk Germany 1975]
hour-long TV movie written & directed by Ferry Radax; starring Dieter Stengel & Fred Stillkrauth
VHS/DVD/Blu-ray not available •
bare credits at IMDb
"The Two Philosophies of Wittgenstein" episode of "Men of Ideas" [BBC-TV Feb 1978]
45-minute color program featuring Oxford professors Bryan Magee {host} & Anthony Quinton
VHS/DVD/Blu-ray not available •
bare credits at IMDb
"Wittgenstein Tractatus" [1992 short]
35-minute b&w short in seven parts by Péter Forgács of Hungary
DVD/Blu-ray not available; •
bare credits at IMDb •
official movie site •
movie entry at Wikipedia
watch trailer/excerpt [2:05] free online at Vimeo
"Wittgenstein" [B.F.I./Channel Four/Zeitgeist Films March 1993]
 |
loosely based on Wittgenstein's life story as well as his philosophical thinking; the original movie script by Terry Eagleton was reworked by director Jarman then filmed before a black backdrop (with various props) as if on stage Co-written & directed by Derek Jarman [1942-94]; the adult Wittgenstein is played by the Welsh actor Karl Johnson; also starring Michael Gough {as Bertrand Russell}, Tilda Swinton, John Quentin {as John Maynard Keynes}, Kevin Collins, Clancy Chassay, Nabil Shaban, Sally Dexter, Lynn Seymour, Donald McInnes, Jill Balcon, Gina Marsh, Vanya Del Borgo, Ben Scantlebury, Howard Sooley, David Radzinowicz, Jan Latham-Koenig Zeitgeist Films color DVD [6/2008] for $29.92 Kino Video color VHS [6/2000] out of prodn/used full credits at IMDb • movie entry at Wikipedia |
"When Wittgenstein and Lyotard Talked With Jack and Jill: An Introduction To Postmodern Philosophy" docudrama [indep Aug 2006]
54-minute fantasy film made in Belgium; a young man conjures Wittgenstein and Lyotard to answer questions from his girlfriend
Produced, written & narrated by Lois Shawver; directed by Ludo Gielen; starring Pascale Wouters, Peter Aertsen, Bernard Bruggeman, Steven de Lelie, Ludo Gielen
CustomFlix color DVD-R [8/2006] for $34.00 •
not listed on IMDb • watch 12/2007 official promo [2:02] online at YouTube
 | "Wittgenstein At The Movies: Cinematic Investigations" [2011] by Béla Szabados & Christina Stojanova Ludwig Wittgenstein was a big fan of cinema; this book is an examination of his life and writings in relation to that art, as well as an in-depth look at the two major films about Wittgenstein, Péter Forgács' short of 1992 and Derek Jarman's feature of 1993 Kindle Edition from Lexington Books [4/2011] for $37.19 Lexington Books 9x6¼ hardcover [4/2011] for $60.00 |
Friends & Family
Cambridge colleague & housemate Frank P. Ramsey [1903-30]
Cambridge colleague economist Piero Sraffa [1898-1983]
L i n k s
Ludwig Wittgenstein entry at Wikipedia
Wittgenstein Archives at University of Bergen
article "Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889—1951)" [8/2004] by Duncan J. Richter,
on the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
browse the Ludwig Wittgenstein Store {100+ titles} at Amazon
here on the Ludwig Wittgenstein [1889-1951] Page at Maison d'Être Philosophy Bookstore
top of page • short profile • major works • other works • books about Ludwig Wittgenstein • other media • friends & family • links
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