The Lure of Wittgenstein
Why the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein remains such as strong influence on me
When I was studying philosophy at university, there was one philosopher who commanded more respect than all others. Entanglements in ethics or aesthetics, or else the philosophy of mathematics or mind, could, after many false manoeuvres, find their resolution somewhere in the aphorisms of the great Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. Many years later, I realise that I have never quite shaken off the belief that Wittgenstein, for all his detractors, was right.
Readers may or may not be aware that Wittgenstein’s philosophical career can be lucidly divided into two parts: the early period, exemplified by the short but scorchingly abstruse Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, and a later period, articulated in the far more readable, though no less enigmatic, Philosophical Investigations. Between these two peaks, Wittgenstein famously retreated from philosophy and for a time decamped to the role of a school teacher. During this spell he produced a 42-page pronunciation and spelling dictionary for children, the only book of his apart from the Tractatus that was published in his lifetime.
It was the so-called ‘later’ Wittgenstein who was most celebrated by my teachers, a team of pedagogues which included Ray Monk…
