Ray Monk: Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius (1990–) [EN, ES, GR]
Filed under book | Tags: · biography, language, logic, mathematics, philosophy, vienna circle
Ludwig Wittgenstein possessed one of the most acute philosophical minds of the twentieth century. In this incisive portrait, Ray Monk offers a unique insight into the life and work of a modern genius. Wittgenstein was a tortured man who fought his calling in philosophy and never fully came to terms with his gifts. A reluctant Cambridge don, he was uncomfortable in the university setting and believed that a professor could not be an authentic philosopher. In friendship and in love, he was attracted to gentle, intelligent younger men, yet he was so troubled by his own sensuality that these attachments existed mostly in his imagination. Based on previously unpublished Wittgenstein letters and writings, this richly textured biography reveals the connection between the tormented private man and the genius who, in the epoch-making works Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and Philosophical Investigations, radically redirected philosophical thought in our time.
Publisher Jonathan Cape, 1990
ISBN 0224027123, 9780224027120
654 pages
review (Colin McGinn, London Review of Books)
google books (EN)
Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius (English, PDF, 1990, 92 MB)
Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius (English, EPUB, 1990)
Ludwig Wittgenstein: El deber de un genio (Spanish, trans. Damian Alou, 2nd ed., 1994/1997, 13 MB, added on 2014-7-28)
Λούντβιχ Βιτγκενστάιν: Το χρέος της μεγαλοφυΐας (Greek, trans. Γρηγόρης Κονδύλης, 1999, 88 MB)
Jan Zwicky: Wisdom & Metaphor (2003)
Filed under book | Tags: · language, literature, metaphor, philosophy, poetry
“The shape of metaphorical thought is also the shape of wisdom,” states Jan Zwicky in her introduction to Wisdom & Metaphor, “What a human mind must do in order to comprehend a metaphor is a version of what it must do in order to be wise.” In this follow-up to her astonishingly original book Lyric Philosophy (1992), Zwicky sets out to explore the ways in which metaphorical thought links to wisdom: “Those who think metaphorically are enabled to think truly,” suggests Zwicky, “because the shape of their thinking echoes the shape of the world.” Zwicky’s prose style is the very model of her thesis, echoing the measured, sure-spoken clarity of her poetry, guiding the reader through multiple layers of meaning in the right-hand/left-hand voice style that she employed so successfully in Lyric Philosophy. Wisdom & Metaphor is a stunning work that will engage a broad range of readers.
Publisher Gaspereau Press, 2003
ISBN 1894031784
288 pages
review (Adam Dickinson, Canadian Literature)
interview with the author (Mat Laporte, The Puritan)
Allan Janik, Stephen Toulmin: Wittgenstein’s Vienna (1973)
Filed under book | Tags: · architecture, art, city, history, language, music, philosophy, vienna, vienna circle
“The central figure in this portrait of a crumbling society giving birth to the modern world without realizing it was Wittgenstein, the brilliant and gifted young thinker whose great book remains the key to modern thought and who went on to influence a whole generation of English thinkers, artists and scientists.
As a portrait of a man, this book is superbly realized. It is even better as a portrait of the age and milieu in which our modern ideas were born–not only in philosophy, but in art, music, literature, architecture, design and style.”
Publisher Simon and Schuster, New York, 1973
A Touchstone Book
ISBN 0671217259, 9780671217259
314 pages
Review: Barry Seldes (H-Net, 1996).
Wittgenstein’s Vienna (English, 1973)
La Viena de Wittgenstein (Spanish, trans. Ignacio Gomez de Liaño, 1998; removed on 2017-10-3 upon request of publishre)