Why I want to meet Ludwig Wittgenstein
To shake his hand … and then his other hand … both of which I’m certain exist. :)
(http://budni.by.ru/oncertainty.html)
(And I’d probably want to travel back in time, to when he was living!)
Ludwig Wittgenstein (placeholder)
Known to have written “Logisch-Philosophische Abhandlung” and “Philosophische Untersuchungen.”
Recent stories by and about Ludwig Wittgenstein
Why I admire Ludwig Wittgenstein
Wittgentstein was, for me, simply the most ferociously intelligent man alive in the 20th century, has inspired me and my writing.
Why I want to meet Ludwig Wittgenstein
The Tractatus was one of the most mindbending yet poetic pieces of philosophy I have ever read. I fell into a Philosophy class as a graduate student studying the development of Modernism. Wittgenstein gave me a whole new outlook on Modernism, and the foundations of modernist thought, and for that I am most thankful.
The real reason I want to meet Ludwig Wittgenstein
His writings, especially Logisch-Philosophische Abhandlung (aka “Tractatus” in English) and Philosophische Untersuchungen (aka “Investigations” in English), has had a tremendous impact on my life and the manner in which I have conceptualized it.
The section 6.54 of LPA was translated as follows: ”My propositions are elucidatory in this way: he who understands me finally recognizes them as senseless, when he has climbed out through them, on them, over them. (He must so to speak throw away the ladder, after he has climbed up on it.) He must surmount these propositions; then he sees the world rightly.”
Wittgenstein’s biography at Wikipedia is quite detailed. You can meet him by consulting his writings.
His last words were “Tell them I’ve had a wonderful life.” His philosophical methods were absolutely fascinating.
My surprising discovery today: there is a little tiny ladder above his gravestone (see photo from Ascension Parish Burial Ground, Huntingdon Road, Cambridge, UK). I shall consider the virtual visit there as my brief meeting with Wittgenstein.
