Wittgenstein Studies

by Ludwig Wittgenstein

This is a six-volume collection of the major texts of relevance to the study of Wittgenstein. Volume 1 "The Danger of Words and Writings on Wittgenstein" by M. O'C. Drury and edited/introduced by David Berman, Michael Fitzgerald and John Hayes (278pp), is a revised edition including Drury's principal work, "The Danger of Words", and "Some Notes on Conversations with Wittgenstein", as well as his reply to a review of "The Danger of Words" in "Human World" and a hitherto unpublished lecture given in Ireland in 1967. The new introduction contains a memoir of Drury as well as some commentary on his writings. Volume 2 "An Introduction to Wittgenstein's 'Tractatus'" by G.E.M. Anscombe (1971 ed., 180pp) is a reprint of the fourth corrected edition. Anscombe's "Introduction" guides the reader through the "Tractatus" and, thereby, Wittgenstein's early philosophy as a whole. She shows in particular how his arguments developed out of the discussions of Russell and Frege. Volume 3 " Souces and Perspectives" ed. by C.G. Luckhardt (1979 ed., 169pp) contains 11 essays of two sorts - those which present sources for the study of Wittgenstein's philosophy, and those which relate particular aspects of his work to that of other thinkers. It includes essays by Georg Henrik von Wright, P.M.S. Hacker, Gordon Baker and David Pears. In Volume 4 "Discussions of Wittgenstein" by Rush Rhees (1970 ed., 169pp), Rhees works out in these discussions what he learned from Wittgenstein's personal teachings and from study of his published and unpublished writings. It includes review articles of books on Wittgenstein and independent discussions of points of Wittgenstein's philosophy. Volume 5"Ludwig Philosophy and Language" ed. by Alice Ambrose and Morris Lazerowitz (1972 ed., 325pp), shows how Wittgenstein put a linguistic light on philosophy. In this anthology of essays the contributors attempt to elucidate and critically assess Wittgenstein's reflections on a number of problems. It includes essays by John Wisdom, Theodore Redpath, George Pitcher and Morris Lazerowitz. In Volume 6 "Wittgenstein's 'Tractacus': A Critical Exposition of the Main Lines of Thought" by Erik Stenius (1964 ed., 252pp), Stenius constructs an analysis of the structure of the "Tractatus", the terminology used within it and the various interrelations between its different statements. He concludes that many adherents and critics have misunderstood the main lines of thought - in particular, its basic idea of the "picture theory" of linguistic symbolism. Stenius aims to untangle the misunderstandings, often through parallels with Kant.

1526 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1996

About the author

Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein (Ph.D., Trinity College, Cambridge University, 1929) was an Austrian-British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language.

Described by Bertrand Russell as "the most perfect example I have ever known of genius as traditionally conceived, passionate, profound, intense, and dominating", he helped inspire two of the twentieth century's principal philosophical movements: the Vienna Circle and Oxford ordinary language philosophy. According to an end of the century poll, professional philosophers in Canada and the U.S. rank both his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and Philosophical Investigations among the top five most important books in twentieth-century philosophy, the latter standing out as "...the one crossover masterpiece in twentieth-century philosophy, appealing across diverse specializations and philosophical orientations". Wittgenstein's influence has been felt in nearly every field of the humanities and social sciences, yet there are widely diverging interpretations of his thought.