Installment 1: Ludwig Wittgenstein (#6)

Overview of His Life:

Ludwig Wittgenstein, born April 26, 1889 in Vienna, Austria Hungary, was considered by many to be the greatest philosopher of the 20th century. Wittgenstein played a huge, yet controversial role in 20th-century analytic philosophy. He was born into one of the wealthiest families of Vienna and He was the youngest of 8. His family possessed so much wealth and skill that their home became a beacon for Viennese culture. Writers, authors, musicians, and philosophers were regular visitors into the Wittgenstein home. Despite the happiness the family saw, they were subject to tragedy like any other family, 3 of Wittgenstein brothers committed suicide.

 Wittgenstein studied engineering, the family trade; however, after reading The Principles of Mathematics by Bertrand Russell and The foundation of Arithmetic by Gottlob Frege, he developed an obsession for mathematics and philosophy. While studying at the University of Cambridge, he became the mentee for Russell himself. Russell gave an insight to his relationship with Wittgenstein and stated “I shall certainly encourage him. Perhaps he will do great things … I love him and feel he will solve the problems I am too old to solve”. Because Wittgenstein was so dedicated to his studies, within a year Russell had nothing left to teach him. Wittgenstein alternated between periods of great prominence in academic life and periods of retirement, thus months at a time he retreated to Norway to think about philosophical problems and come up with solutions.  

After his fathered died he inherited a fortune, but quickly gave it away. In 1914 he enlisted in the Austria Army during World War 2. He thought that facing death would enable him to concentrate his mind on the things that mattered most to him: logic and ethics. During the beginning of the war, Wittgenstein was behind enemy lines, and away from harm. This allowed him to continue his work on logic and after two years he requested to be sent to fight at the Russian front. During which time his philosophical work underwent a change. Previously he separated his thoughts on logic from his thoughts on ethics, but he began to integrate the ideas. He developed the drafts for his first work, Tractatus, during his time in the war. Tractatus became the only work to be published during his life time. Wittgenstein thought that he had solved all problems of philosophy, thus becoming an elementary school teacher. He was said to be very strict, yet effective.

Eventually, he returned back to Cambridge and began conducting seminars to gain information for his new book, Philosophical Investigations. Although he withdrew from publication at the last minute, he authorized posthumous publication. Later in his life he continued his philosophical work and traveled the United States and Ireland. Upon returning to Cambridge he discovered he had cancer. Legend has it that is last words were “Tell them I’ve had a wonderful life”.

In my next installment I will go more in depth about Wittgenstein philosophical works. 

Sources: 
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/wittgenstein/
http://www.iep.utm.edu/wittgens/
http://donamajicshow.tumblr.com/post/127243286/tractatus-logico-philosophicus-the-philosophical
http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/6s.htm#trac