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'The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are
always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of
doubts' Bertrand Russell 'Science is what you know. Philosophy is
what you don't know' Bertrand Russell discovered mathematics at the
age of eleven. It was, he recalled, a transporting experience: 'as
dazzling as first love'. From that moment on, he would pursue his
passion with undying devotion and fervour. Mathematics might
succeed, he felt, where philosophy had failed, reducing thought to
its purest form, and freeing knowledge from doubt and
contradiction. And for a time, so it seemed. Russell's mathematical
investigations effortlessly resolved at a stroke some of
philosophy's most intractable problems. Yet if mathematics could be
a liberating mistress, she was also an unreliable one... Opening up
the work of one of our age's undisputed giants, Ray Monk's
exhilaratingly clear, readable guide tells a compelling human tale
too: a moving story of love and loss, of ecstatic triumph and deep
disillusion.
Granta's new How to Read series is based on a very simple, but
novel, idea. Most beginners' guides to great thinkers and writers
offer either potted biographies or condensed summaries of their
major works. How to Read, by contrast, brings the reader face to
face with the writing itself in the company of an expert guide. Its
starting point is that in order to get close to what a writer is
all about, you have to get close to the words they actually use and
be shown how to read those words. authors have been asked to select
ten or so short extracts from a writer's work and look at them in
detail as a way of revealing their central ideas and thereby
opening the doors onto a whole world of thought. The books will not
be merely a compilation of a thinker's most famous passages, their
'greatest hits', but will rather offer a series of clues or keys
that will enable to reader to go on and make discoveries of their
own. In addition to the texts and readings, each book will provide
a short biographical chronology and suggestions for further
reading, internet resources and so on. The books in the How to Read
don't claim to tell you all you need to know. Instead they offer a
refreshing set of first-hand meetings with those minds. Our hope is
that these books will instruct, intrigue, embolden, encourage and
delight. other analytic philosophers - the nature of logic, the
limits of language, the analysis of meaning - he did so in a
peculiarly poetic style that separates his work sharply from that
of his peers and makes the question of how to read him particularly
pertinent. At the root of Wittgenstein's thought, Monk argues, is a
determination to resist the scientism characteristic of our age, a
determination to insist on the integrity and the autonomy of
non-scientific forms of understanding. The kind of understanding we
seek in philosophy, Wittgenstein tried to make clear, is similar to
the kind we might seek of a person, a piece of music, or, indeed,
of a poem. Wittgenstein's posthumously published writings,
including Philosophical Investigations, The Blue and Brown Books,
On Certainty and Last Writings on the Philosophy of Psychology.
The Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus first appeared in 1921 and was
the only philosophical work that Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951)
published during his lifetime. Written in short, carefully numbered
paragraphs of extreme compression and brilliance, it immediately
convinced many of its readers and captured the imagination of all.
Its chief influence, at first, was on the Logical Positivists of
the 1920s and 1930s, but many other philosophers were stimulated by
its philosophy of language, finding attractive, even if ultimately
unsatisfactory, its view that propositions were pictures of
reality. Perhaps most of all, its own author, after his return to
philosophy in the late 1920s, was fascinated by its vision of an
inexpressible, crystalline world of logical relationships. C.K.
Ogden's translation of the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus has a
unique provenance. As revealed in Letters of C.K. Ogden (1973) and
in correspondence in The Times Literary Supplement, Wittgenstein,
Ramsey and Moore all worked with Ogden on the translation, which
had Wittgenstein's complete approval. The very name Tractatus
Logico-Philosophicus was of Ogden's devising; and there is very
strong feeling among philosophers that, among the differing
translations of this work, Ogden's is the definitive text - and
Wittgenstein's version of the English equivalent of his
Logisch-Philosophische Abhandlung.
Ludwig Wittgenstein is one of the greatest and most fascinating
philosophers of all time. His Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus,
composed in a series of remarkable numbered propositions, was the
only book he published in his lifetime. He tackles nothing less
than the question of whether there is such a thing as a logically
perfect language and, armed with it, what we can say about the
nature of the world itself. Pushing the limits of language, logic
and philosophy, the Tractatus is a brilliant, cryptic and hypnotic
tour de force, exerting a major impact on twentieth-century
philosophy and stirring the imagination today.
With a new foreword by Ray Monk.
Approaching the writing of major intellectuals, artists, and
philosophers need no longer be daunting. How to Read is a new sort
of introduction--a personal master class in reading--that brings
you face to face with the work of some of the most influential and
challenging writers in history. In lucid, accessible language,
these books explain essential topics such as Wittgenstein's
determination to insist on the integrity and the autonomy of
nonscientific forms of understanding. Though Wittgenstein wrote on
the same subjects that dominate the work of other analytic
philosophers - the nature of logic, the limits of language, the
analysis of meaning - he did so in a peculiarly poetic style that
separates his work sharply from that of his peers and makes the
question of how to read him particularly pertinent. At the root of
Wittgenstein's thought, Monk argues, is a determination to resist
the scientism characteristic of our age, a determination to insist
on the integrity and the autonomy of non-scientific forms of
understanding. The kind of understanding we seek in philosophy,
Wittgenstein tried to make clear, is similar to the kind we might
seek of a person, a piece of music, or, indeed, of a poem.
An unforgettable story of discovery and unimaginable destruction
and a major biography of one of America's most brilliant--and most
divisive--scientists, "Robert Oppenheimer: A Life Inside the
Center" vividly illuminates the man who would go down in history as
"the father of the atomic bomb." Oppenheimer's talent and drive
secured him a place in the pantheon of great physicists and carried
him to the laboratories where the secrets of the universe revealed
themselves. But they also led him to contribute to the development
of the deadliest weapon on earth, a discovery he soon came to fear.
His attempts to resist the escalation of the Cold War arms
race--coupled with political leanings at odds with post-war
America--led many to question his loyalties, and brought down upon
him the full force of McCarthyite anti-communism. Digging deeply
into Oppenheimer's past to solve the enigma of his motivations and
his complex personality, Ray Monk uncovers the extraordinary,
charming, tortured man--and the remarkable mind--who fundamentally
reshaped the world.
While the published works of Ludwig Wittgenstein reveal the final,
coalesced thoughts of this philosophical giant, Wittgenstein's
diary reveals his process of doing philosophy. Only in his private
writing does Wittgenstein's philosophical practice fully come to
light. In particular, Wittgensten's diary entries from the 1930s
reveal themselves as a first-person spiritual epic. Wittgenstein
agonizes over his relationship with Marguerite Respinger and tries
to come to terms with its failure. He relates and interprets
several of his dreams. He comments on his philosophical colleagues
Frank Ramsey and G.E. Moore. He comments on musicians such as
Beethoven, Bruckner and Brahms, and authors such as Kraus, Mann,
Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, and Kierkegaard. He struggles to make
confessions to a number of friends and family. He relates in
painful detail his spiritual crisis in Norway in the late winter of
1937. From a man who once recommended silence about spiritual
matters, we find here an honest and searing articulation of his
attempts to believe and live what he finds in the Bible. Here are
the raw materials for what could have been one of the great
spiritual autobiographies of the twentieth century. It is available
here for the first time in an affordable edition, with updated and
expanded editorial notes to help the reader understand
Wittgenstein's many allusions, and with a new Introduction by Ray
Monk, which places the diary in the larger arc of Wittgenstein
life.
In this biography of Wittgenstein, the author interleaves the philosophical and emotional aspects of his subject's life.
While the published works of Ludwig Wittgenstein reveal the final,
coalesced thoughts of this philosophical giant, Wittgenstein's
diary reveals his process of doing philosophy. Only in his private
writing does Wittgenstein's philosophical practice fully come to
light. In particular, Wittgensten's diary entries from the 1930s
reveal themselves as a first-person spiritual epic. Wittgenstein
agonizes over his relationship with Marguerite Respinger and tries
to come to terms with its failure. He relates and interprets
several of his dreams. He comments on his philosophical colleagues
Frank Ramsey and G.E. Moore. He comments on musicians such as
Beethoven, Bruckner and Brahms, and authors such as Kraus, Mann,
Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, and Kierkegaard. He struggles to make
confessions to a number of friends and family. He relates in
painful detail his spiritual crisis in Norway in the late winter of
1937. From a man who once recommended silence about spiritual
matters, we find here an honest and searing articulation of his
attempts to believe and live what he finds in the Bible. Here are
the raw materials for what could have been one of the great
spiritual autobiographies of the twentieth century. It is available
here for the first time in an affordable edition, with updated and
expanded editorial notes to help the reader understand
Wittgenstein's many allusions, and with a new Introduction by Ray
Monk, which places the diary in the larger arc of Wittgenstein
life.
Maurice O'Connor Drury was among Wittgenstein's first students
after his return to Cambridge in 1929. The subsequent course of
Drury's life and thought was to be enormously influenced by his
teacher, from his decision to become a doctor to his later work in
psychiatry. The Selected Writings of Maurice O'Connor Drury brings
together the best of his lectures, conversations, and letters on
philosophy, religion and medicine. Central to the collection is the
Danger of Words, the 1973 text described by Ray Monk as 'the most
truly Wittgensteinian book published by any of Wittgenstein's
students'. Through notes on conversations with Wittgenstein,
letters to a student of philosophy and correspondence of almost 30
years with Rush Rhees, Drury gives shape to what he had learned
from Wittgenstein. Whether discussing methods of philosophy, Simone
Weil or the power of hypnosis, he makes fascinating excursions into
the bearing of Wittgenstein's thought on philosophy and the
practice of medicine and psychiatry. With an introduction
presenting a new biography of Drury, analysing the relationship
between him and Wittgenstein, The Selected Writings of Maurice
O'Connor Drury features previously unpublished archival sources.
Beautifully written and carefully selected, each piece reveals the
impact of Wittgenstein's teachings, shedding light on the
friendship and thinking of one of the most important philosophers
of the 20th century.
"Great philosophical biographies can be counted on one hand. Monk's life of Wittgenstein is such a one."—The Christian Science Monitor.
J. Robert Oppenheimer is among the most contentious and important
figures of the twentieth century. As head of the Los Alamos
Laboratory, he oversaw the successful effort to beat the Nazis to
develop the first atomic bomb - a breakthrough which was to have
eternal ramifications for mankind, and made Oppenheimer the 'father
of the Bomb'. But his was not a simple story of assimilation,
scientific success and world fame. A complicated and fragile
personality, the implications of the discoveries at Los Alamos were
to weigh heavily upon him. Having formed suspicious connections in
the 1930s, in the wake of the Allied victory in World War Two,
Oppenheimer's attempts to resist the escalation of the Cold War
arms race would lead many to question his loyalties - and set him
on a collision course with Senator Joseph McCarthy and his witch
hunters.
La obra de Ludwig Wittgenstein es el producto de un pensamiento
riguroso y de una imaginacin brillante, y slo puede ser comprendida
en todo su alcance analizando la relacin entre su filosofa y su
vida. Wittgenstein naci en 1889, hijo de una de las ms acaudaladas
y cultas familias de Viena, de origen judo pero convertidos al
catolicismo, y cuyos miembros eran triunfadores o suicidas; en esta
compleja matriz familiar podemos rastrear el origen de su intensa y
siempre presente preocupacin por problemas ticos, espirituales y
culturales.Su trayectoria como filsofo comienza tras su encuentro
con Bertrand Russell en Cambridge, y su trabajo en esta universidad
culmina en el Tractatus Logico -Philosophicus, celebrado en la
actualidad por los positivistas lgicos, quienes a veces nos hacen
olvidar su intenso contenido mstico. Wittgenstein termin esta obra
al final de la Primera Guerra Mundial, contienda en la que su
experiencia como soldado le enfrent al sufrimiento humano en una
escala tal que le marc para siempre. Convencido de que su libro
haba resuelto todos los problemas tradicionales del objeto de su
investigacin, abandon la filosofa y se dedic a la enseanza en
escuelas rurales de Austria, donde se vio envuelto en serias
dificultades de ndole profesional y personal.Tena ya ms de cuarenta
aos cuando decidi regresar a la vida acadmica y a la filosofa. La
radical reelaboracin de su pensamiento anterior, cristalizada en la
obra publicada despus de su muerte con el ttulo de Investigaciones
filosficas, ha ejercido una influencia decisiva en la filosofa
actual.Ray Monk, saludado por la crtica como un renovador del gnero
biogrfico, ha podido consultar por primera vez los archivos de
Wittgenstein,sus papeles y sus diarios, escritos en cdigo, y que
despejan las incgnitas sobre la mistificada vida sexual del
filsofo.Muy bien escrita, inteligente, conmovedora: una biografa
esplndida, un colorido retrato de un hombre que quera ser 'mora
The Great Philosophers in one volume: the widely acclaimed series
on the greatest philosophers by specialists writing for the general
reader. The Great Philosophers brings together in one volume and in
chronological order the best from our hugely successful series:
Anthony Gottlieb on Socrates; Bernard Williams on Plato; John
Cottingham on Descartes; Roger Scruton on Spinoza; David Berman on
Berkeley; Anthony Quinton on Hume; Terry Eagleton on Marx; Ray Monk
on Russell; Jonathan Ree on Heidegger; Peter Hacker on
Wittgenstein; Frederic Raphael on Popper Andrew Hodges on Turing.
Hilary Burde, saved by education from a delinquent childhood, cheated out of Oxford by a tragic love tangle, cherishes his obsessive guilt and disappointment in a dull, orderly civil service job. When the man whom he has harmed and betrayed reappears as head of his department, Hilary hopes for forgiveness, even for redemption and a new life, but finds himself haunted by a ghostly repetition.
Maurice O’Connor Drury was among Wittgenstein’s first students
after his return to Cambridge in 1929. The subsequent course of
Drury’s life and thought was to be enormously influenced by his
teacher. The Selected Writings of Maurice O’Connor Drury brings
together the best of his lectures, conversations, and letters on
philosophy, religion and medicine. Central to the collection is the
Danger of Words, the 1973 text described by Ray Monk as 'the most
truly Wittgensteinian book published by any of Wittgenstein's
students'. Through notes on conversations with Wittgenstein,
letters to a student of philosophy and correspondence of almost 30
years with Rush Rhees, Drury gives shape to what he had learned
from Wittgenstein. Whether discussing philosophy, Simone Weil or
the power of hypnosis, he makes fascinating excursions into the
bearing of Wittgenstein’s thought on philosophy and the practice
of medicine and psychiatry. Alongside a foreword by Monk and an
introduction presenting a new biography of Drury, analysing the
relationship between him and Wittgenstein, this collection features
previously unpublished archival sources. Beautifully written and
carefully selected, each piece reveals the impact of
Wittgenstein’s teachings, shedding light on the friendship and
thinking of one of the most important philosophers of the 20th
century.
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