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Philosophy

Titles to Look Out For:
[in alphabetical order, dated to earliest edition. Each listing includes later editions and printings]
1984. Recollections of Wittgenstein edited by Rush Rhees
1963. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. The German Text of Ludwig Wittgenstein's Logisch-philosophische Abhandlung by Ludwig Wittgenstein

• Recollections of Wittgenstein [top]
  Edited by Rush Rhees
  Published in 1984 in Great Britain by Oxford University Press in paperback, 236pp, ISBN 0192876287

About this book/synopsis: Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) was not only the most important philosopher of his time, arguably one of the greatest ever; he also had a personality of quite exceptional strength, integrity and intensity that both disturbed and inspired those with whom he came into contact, and continues to influence those with whom he came into contact, and continues to influence those who discover him at second hand. The life he lived, too, was in many ways quite out of the ordinary. This book is a collection of vivid personal memoirs of Wittgenstein by five people who knew him intimately and in different ways. No philosophical knowledge is needed to read them; their collective effect is extraordinarily powerful. The authors are Wittgenstein's sister Hermine; his Russian teacher Fania Pascal; F. R. Leavis, a fellow Cambridge don; and two of his pupils, John King and M. O'C. Drury. The editor, the philosopher Rush Rhees, was a pupil and friend of Wittgenstein and is one of his literary executors. Norman Malcolm, author of the classic Ludwig Wittgenstein: A Memoir (also in Oxford Paperbacks) provides the introduction for this edition

Contents:
Preface by Rush Rhees
Introduction by Norman Malcolm
My Brother Ludwig by Hermine Wittgenstein
Wittgenstein: A Personal Memoir by Fania Pascal
Memories of Wittgenstein by F. R. Leavis
Recollections of Wittgenstein by John King
Some Notes on Conversations with Wittgenstein. Conversations with Wittgenstein by M. O'C. Drury
Postscript by Rush Rhees

Note on quotations
Editorial notes
Bibliographic note
Index

• Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. The German Text of Ludwig Wittgenstein's Logisch-philosophische Abhandlung [top]
  First published in 1963 in Great Britain by Routledge and Kegan Paul, in hardback, with dustjacket, 166pp, no ISBN

About this book/synopsis: Bertrand Russell (introduction) says: Mr. Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, whether or not it proves to give the ultimate truth on the matters with which it deals, certainly deserves, by its breadth and scope and profundity, to be considered an important event in the philosophical world. Starting from the principles of Symbolism and the relations which are necessary between words and things in any language, it applies the result of this enquiry to various departments of traditional philosophy, showing in each case how traditional philosophy and traditional solutions arise out of ignorance of the principles of Symbolism and out of misuse of language. The logical structure of propositions and the nature of logical inference are first dealt with. From there to Theory of Knowledge, Principles of Physics, Ethics and finally the Mystical (das Mystische). In order to understand Mr. Wittgenstein's book, it is necessary to realize what is the problem with which he is concerned. In the part of his theory which deals with Symbolism, he is concerned with the conditions which would have to be fulfilled by a logically perfect language. There are various problems as regards language. First, there is the problem of what actually occurs in our minds when we use language with the intention of meaning something by it; this problem belongs to psychology. Secondly, there is the problem as to what is the relation subsisting between thoughts, words, or sentences, and that which they refer to or mean; this problem belongs to epistemology. Thirdly, there is the problem of using sentences so as to convey truth rather than falsehood; this belongs to the special sciences dealing with the subject-matter of the sentences in question. Fourthly, there is the question: what relation must one face (such as a sentence) have to another in order to be capable of being a symbol for that other? This last is a logical question and is the one with which Wittgenstein is concerned