Ludwig Wittgenstein: Philosophy in the Age of Airplanes

"This is in the Yale University Press ‘Jewish Lives’ series. Ray Monk wrote the classic biography, Ludwig Wittgenstein: the Duty of Genius . The subtitle is something of a giveaway. That’s an excellent read, which shows the influence of Wittgenstein’s background in Vienna and Cambridge in the early part of the 20th century on his thinking, writing, and life choices. Through that, we know various kinds of torments that he had as a man and as a thinker, and his intellectual interactions as an idiosyncratic genius with a difficult personality. Most people who have read that book think it unlikely to be bettered, even though it’s somewhat hagiographical in stance. Wittgenstein was, to my mind, not very good with people. He prioritised his own conscience above the impact of his ruthless honesty on others. He could be deeply offensive in his comments, really hurtful. He seems to have believed that most of his judgments—on philosophy, aesthetics, ways of speaking, how to live – were infallible, perhaps a result of his very privileged upbringing. Apart from all that, he seems to have hit a young kid very hard around the head and then lied about it when he was working as a schoolteacher. So, he wasn’t a wholly wonderful person, although there is no doubt that he was a very original thinker with a distinctives style of writing about philosophy. He was often aphoristic, encouraging the reader to think through a series of imagined examples: like the example of the beetle in the box, or his pronouncement that ‘if a lion could speak, we wouldn’t understand him.’ He used phrases and imaginative examples that are very quotable and very memorable and these have resonated far beyond philosophy. Ray Monk published his biography back in 1990, and the consensus was that nobody will ever produce a better biography of this thinker. And I don’t know that Gottlieb’s is the better biography, but it’s a different sort of biography. For a start it’s shorter – fewer than 200 pages. Anthony Gottlieb, like Monk, is a skilled writer. This new book is very clear and lively and interesting. At times Gottlieb moves quickly—very quickly—through Wittgenstein’s life. For instance: Wittgenstein was captured during the First World War. He was a prisoner of war and wrote some of the Tractatus in captivity . But there’s almost nothing about that in his book. So, this is a very good read but, necessarily, because it is so much shorter than Monk’s biography, it doesn’t go into depth on Wittgenstein’s philosophical contribution so much, particularly in relation to the Tractatus – a notoriously difficult book, despite the apparent simplicity of its language. But I’d recommend it. It’s primarily for people who haven’t read Ray Monk’s book. It’s a palatable way of understanding a very interesting and tortured soul in his context. There are some new things that Ray Monk didn’t know about or didn’t mention, too. One of my favourite insights comes from a description of the Wittgenstein family. They were immensely wealthy, a big family, but damaged hugely by an overbearing father. They would hold dinner parties, where guests always got a bit irritated because the Wittgensteins had the habit of talking to one another in fables and made-up stories to make a point, rather than just expressing themselves straightforwardly. This is interesting, you can see where Wittgenstein got his often oblique style from. In later life Wittgenstein was keen not to end up just writing a series of aphorisms. He explained why not in an aphorism: ‘Raisins may be the best part of a cake; but a bag of raisins is not better than a cake.’ (I call this Wittgenstein’s ‘Critique of Pure Raisin’). It’s a nice image, and something you could apply to many aspects of life. The things you most value, you might value because they are rare and enjoyable, not because you want a whole life of these and nothing else. I would recommend the book. It is very nicely produced, and would make a great present—although it’s not an alternative to Ray Monk’s. More of a gateway drug. Yes. Twenty years ago Princeton University Press very cleverly republished this 6000-word essay by Harry Frankfurt as a small hardback book. It became a massive bestseller. It’s a very clever analysis of a phenomenon that is distinct from lying. A liar knows the truth and tells you something else. A bullshitter doesn’t care about the truth at all. Harry Frankfurt explores that in this little book. Despite the title, this is not a jokey short read, but a serious work of philosophical analysis that gets more relevant by the day. It has sold over a million copies worldwide, which is phenomenal for a philosophy book—especially for one that had already been published as an essay somewhere else without making big waves. Now Princeton University Press have reissued an anniversary edition of the book. It’s definitely worth reading, a very significant contribution to public philosophy. In the age of AI, it has a different resonance. You might say that ChatGPT doesn’t seem to have a particular interest in the truth… Yes, it may be more accurate to talk about it bullshitting, than hallucinating—though I’m wary about attributing agency to LLMs – I prefer the view of them as ‘stochastic parrots’, and think there are real dangers of talking loosely about them as if they were thinking beings. Some claims about the value philosophy contributes to society by teaching critical thinking are overblown. If you begin with false premises, good thinking skills won’t guarantee you get a true conclusion. If you think of British politics, many if not most British politicians have studied PPE at Oxford —they’ve honed their thinking skills in philosophy tutorials. Has that produced better quality debate in Parliament? No. Many of these same individuals have resorted to mere rhetoric. This is certainly true of some of the most prominent politicians who have done much to make Britain a worse place, not a better one. Overconfidence in their ability to argue has sometimes been the problem, especially when that was tied with a cavalier attitude to the truth of their starting points. There are very few examples you can point to of books that focus on critical thinking, which could have a direct impact if their message is taken to hear. I think Bullshit is one of these, and should be compulsory reading for anyone becoming an MP. Thanks. It’s a classic. Obviously, my five choices are somewhat idiosyncratic and to a degree subjective. There may be excellent books that I’ve missed. But the five core books I’ve chosen, and the others I’ve mentioned, are very good books, are accessible to a general reader, and certainly worth reading."