Ludwig Wittgenstein

author

Ludwig Wittgenstein

1889–1951

One of the 20th century’s most influential philosophers, he transformed debates about logic, language, and how philosophy itself should be done. His work moves from the spare rigor of the Tractatus to the everyday language focus of Philosophical Investigations.

1 Audiobook

Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

by Ludwig Wittgenstein

About the author

Born in Vienna on April 26, 1889, Ludwig Wittgenstein first studied engineering before turning to philosophy in Cambridge, where he worked with Bertrand Russell. He served in the First World War, and his early masterpiece, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, grew out of that period.

After giving away much of his inherited wealth, he spent time as a village schoolteacher and later returned to Cambridge. There he developed the later ideas that made him famous, questioning the search for perfect logical structure and instead examining how language works in ordinary life.

Wittgenstein died in Cambridge on April 29, 1951. His later book, Philosophical Investigations, was published after his death and became one of the most important works in modern philosophy, shaping discussion in philosophy, linguistics, and related fields for generations.