Wittgenstein

by W.W. Bartley III

Book Overview

The portrait that emerges from this account is human, all too human, but the author's respect for Wittgenstein is never in doubt. Though brief and written so that it can be understood by those with no previous knowledge of Wittgenstein's philosophy, this book is an important contribution to our understanding of the man and of the development of his thought.
--Walter Kaufmann

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0875484417
• ISBN13: 9780875484419
• Release Date: February 1999
• Publisher: Open Court
• Length: 236 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Cheekily controversial, but an excellent primer

This is a short and very accessible biography. Wittgenstein tends to be widely and divergently interpreted - which goes with the territory, I suppose: with all that talk about language games, you can't really say he's "misunderstood", but there is little consensus as to what his philosophy really means. Not helped, also, by his later work (encapsulated in the Philosophical Investigations) effectively recanting on the logical formalism of his earlier Tractatus Logico Philosophicus. Bartley's life does the extremely valuable service of distilling down the central tenets of Wittgenstein to manageable nuggets rendered at a sufficiently remote level of abstraction that a lay reader should be able to digest them comfortably. Much more entertaining than Marie McGinn's rather humourless Guidebook to Wittgenstein and the Philosophical Investigations, for example. However, this is no dry exposition of the Philosophical Investigations. It is a true biography, covering Wittgenstein's period as an Austrian schoolteacher. Bartley paints a plausible picture of the Philosopher as hermit auteur. He is also obstreporously controversial in writing colourfully of Wittgenstein's taste for a bit of Vienese rough trade in a section which (as Bartley defensively notes in the afterword) occupies just five pages (but it is pretty much the first five!) which appears to have gained this volume some not insignificant literary notoriety on publication in 1973. These days, a spot of Tyrolian cottaging seems almost somewhat tame, if gratuitous, stuff (tame in that it has almost become more controversial to claim a lifetime literary bachelor was *straight* and gratuitous in that, despite a salutary attempt late on, Bartley makes no real effort to link said saucy tendencies to anything more significant in Wittgenstein's life or work, and in fact in a studiously defensive afterword, explicitly rejects the validity of doing just that. Much of the afterword is written with the air of an author-as-fullback looking suspiciously quizzical and innocent while the subject-as-winger writhes in agony on the ground just inside the penalty box, it never being clear who is more deserving of a booking. Nonetheless, it's a quick, clear, entertaining read and will be of particular value for those (like me) seeking an overview and context to this important 20th century philosopher, having discovered that an uncontextualised approach on the north face of the Philosophical Investigations without an experienced sherpa and some preparatory reading oxygen, was a bit of a tall order. Olly Buxton

Important for Perspective

In a brief (a little over 200 pages) study of Wittgenstein's thought, Bartley, in this supposedly controversial book, gives a credible introduction to one of the most important philosophers of the twentieth century. Most come to this book because of Bartley's reports of Wittgenstein's active homosexual life. In the revised edition, the author rebuttals such claims, stating that in the few pages dedicated to the thesis is not a substantial aspect of the philosopher's life, but one that should not be overlooked. Though, as most of his critics state, this section of the text seems rather poorly researched and documented in relation to the rest of the text and is largely based upon speculation, however probable. If one does not become preoccupied with this aspect of the study (which the additional essays in the text seem to make the core of the text), the work does serve as a brief, but critical and well-presented study of Wittgenstein's life and work. The essays in the latter edition are more thorough and more philosophical in the respect of Bartley challenging his objectors and in "The Question of the Relevance of His Homosexuality to Wittgenstein's Philosophy," the author refutes initiating formalistic readings in relation to philosophic work, which is well argued and can be presented not only in relation to Wittgenstein and his thought, but all of philosophy and its writers. This study of Wittgenstein does not detract from his image (which many of Bartley's objectors, one gets the feeling, are merely supporting their own lionization of the thinker) but lends a critical, and at this time, non-traditional, interpretation of Wittgenstein and his work. This text serves as a good litmus test to Monk's biography.

The Man, The Myth, The Philosophy.

This was an enjoyable read. I was surprised, and happy, to see that not very much time was spent on Wittgenstein's homosexuality and supposedly torrid affairs, but was instead spent discussing how his years as a schoolteacher influenced his later philosophy. Also, any of Wittgenstein's actual philosophy that was present in the book was presented in a clear, concise manner so that practically anyone could understand it. The amount of space discussing Austrian school reform in the 1930s was a little odd, though...

Terribly beautiful

Fantastic book, full of drama in the deepest sense. I just couldn't stop reading it, and hoped that, like Borges' "Book of Sand", it would have no end. The experiences of the philosopher as a teacher in a lost alpine village in Austria are here beautifully and terribly described.