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I very much enjoyed this look into the not always happy life of L Wittgenstein. I can't say that I understand his philosphy any better after eading the book, but I don't think that that was the purpose of the book. After reading about his problems with his sexual preference, his father, his Jewish background and his conflict with his family wealth, the question remains how each of these factors contributed to his philosophy.
Wittgenstein didn't seem to care much for other people outside of his ability to bully them intellectually. I found reading this biography is helping me read Wittgenstein's "remarks" on psychology and other topics. Ray Monk's book on Wittgenstein is an excellent introduction to Wittgenstein and his thinking. I imagine a good case could be made for Wittgenstein fitting the profile of Asperger's Syndrome. Monk does an admirable job of providing the cultural context outside of which characters like Wittgenstein or Russell are hard for Americans to understand. That said, it does seem that Monk bends over backward to apologize for Wittgenstein's contradictory self-centeredness. Also, for a man who doubted the ability of language to convey experience, Wittgenstein doesn't seem to doubt himself very much or if he did, it was in the wrong areas. Monk needed the cooperation of the Wittgenstein estate to do the masterful job he did and if that means overly apologizing for Wittgenstein's "sins" (of ommission or commission) so be it - Monk has met the duty of a biographer in protraying a fascinating mind and helping elucidate Wittgenstein's more obscure writing.
I am surprised by how, it seems to me, Monk distorts or reinterprets what the memoirs and reports of others have to say about Wittgenstein. He slanders and discounts anyone who reports how introverted and self absorbed W was. I have many questions about the validity of his contributions to philosophy, but it seems to me that he was an extremely self centered and not very nice man. After dismissing practically everything Russell says about and in responce to W, I am curious how he handles this in the bio of Russell.
In addition to what was at times an obsessive preoccupation with philosophical issues, Wittgenstein sought fulfillment by serving as an enlisted man in the Austro-Hungarian Army, as an elementary school teacher, and as a hospital porter in London during the Blitz. This doesn't appear to be in any ordinary sense a desire to be useful to others but rather a sense that life would be misspent if not devoted to some kind of higher calling. Wittgenstein attempted to do this in various ways throughout his life. Monk records that Wittgenstein's last words were, "Tell them I've had a wonderful life." An odd statement for a man who was so often profoundly unhappy. Wittgenstein had little prior knowledge of philosophy. One gets the sense that if Wittgenstein had had conventional religious views, he might well have found satisfaction in a cloistered religious life. Throughout his life, he was able to attract the friendship and support of intelligent, and in many cases, remarkably patient individuals who were able to tolerate his often odd and sometimes thoughtless behavior. If the point of life was a search or struggle for ethical self-fulfillment rather than attaining a given goal, its not surprising that Wittgenstein's analysis would stress methods and the limits of reason rather than scientifically oriented conclusions.
Monk presents Wittgenstein as a man in constant search of an elusive goal of authenticity or a very demanding form of self-fulfillment. This is a very good biography of the brilliant, very influential, and rather odd Ludwig Wittgenstein. He sought out Russell, who accepted him as a disciple at a time when Russell felt that someone else needed to take up the task of continuing the work that Russell had started. In later years, he actually attracted disciples, and seems to have had somewhat homoerotic relationships with at least 2 of them. He then became interested in basic questions of logic, influenced by the work of Frege and Russell.
Much of this search for fulfillment had an irrational or even mystical element, and its clear that he spent much of his life profoundly unhappy with himself. As Monk points out, while he later read some important philosophers, Wittgenstein had read little philosophy at this point in his life. In addition to his intellectual brilliance, he must have possessed considerable charisma. In a particularly telling episode, he signed over all of his considerable wealth (his father had dominated the Austrian steel industry) to his equally wealthy siblings, apparently because he regarded affluence as an obstacle to self-fulfillment. Wittgenstein seems to have been driven by a virtually religious need to pursue some form of meritorious life.
Monk emphasizes Wittgenstein's primary preoccupations with ethical self-transformation, the irrational, and methods, as opposed to conclusions in philosophy. A particular favorite seems to have been an obscure Viennese writer named Weininger, of whom Wittgenstein remained very fond, and who originated the duty of genius notion. Wittgenstein does seem to have been influenced by Schopenhauer but probably more importantly by figures from the Viennese milieu of his youth like the critic Karl Kraus. Wittgenstein's personal relationships reflected his rather self-involved focus. How does this fit in with Wittgenstein's work in philosophy. This is one aspect of this book I found disappointing.
Monk sets out to provide a thorough narrative that depicts both Wittgenstein's career as a philosopher and his unusual personal life in a way that shows the unity of this life. This accounts partly for his apparently unique approach to philosophy. In later years, Wittgenstein would look to other unconventional thinkers for inspiration including Goethe's writings on biology and perhaps most surprisingly, the pseudo-historical analysis of Oswald Spengler.Wittgenstein, then, was both congenitally and by choice, an outsider to the Western philosophical tradition. The descriptions of Wittgenstein's philosophic work and the context in which they arise are not as good as the narrative about his personal life and psychology.
If what made life valuable was aesthetic concerns and somewhat Romantic ideals of culture, then its not surprising that there would be mystical, even contradictory element in Wittgenstein's work. In his early 20s, Wittgenstein had apparently embarked on a career as an engineer. This is the "Duty of Genius" referred to by the title of the book. Taking both the biography and Monk's other book together, Monk shows very well how Wittgenstein's personal life and philosophic work come together.
While he clearly had strong hermetic impulses, he clearly had a strong need for friends. Monk points out the strange way that Wittgenstein came to philosophy. To get the most out of this biography, I recommend reading Monk's concise book, How to Read Wittgenstein, which is about 100 pages and quite clear. Yet, if the search for self-fulfillment rather than any definite piece of knowledge is the measure of success, Wittgenstein was one of the most successful men of his time.
I was drawn by his ideas to his biography. I do not have major problems with the book though the writing certainly did not capture my attention. I stopped liking and admiring Wittgenstein half way through the book. However, just like what an old saying says -"If you like the egg, you don't need to know the chicken that laid it", I should have just stayed with the ideas. Wittgenstein might be an accidental genius but certainly not someone likable (by my criteria).
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