Product Description

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) was an extraordinarily original philospher, whose influence on twentieth-century thinking goes well beyond philosophy itself. In this book, which aims to make Wittgenstein's thought accessible to the general non-specialist reader, A. C. Grayling explains the nature and impact of Wittgenstein's views. He describes both his early and later philosophy, the differences and connections between them, and gives a fresh assessment of Wittgenstein's continuing influence on contemporary thought.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18679 in Books
• Published on: 2001-02-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

Synopsis
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) was an extraordinarily original philospher, whose influence on twentieth-century thinking goes well beyond philosophy itself. In this book, which aims to make Wittgenstein's thought accessible to the general non-specialist reader, A. C. Grayling explains the nature and impact of Wittgenstein's views. He describes both his early and later philosophy, the differences and connections between them, and gives a fresh assessment of Wittgenstein's continuing influence on contemporary thought.

About the Author
A. C. Grayling is Reader in Philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London, and Sumernumary Fellow at St Anne's College, Oxford. He is the author of An Introduction to Philosophical Logic, the Refutation of Scepticism, and Berkeley: The central arguments, and editor of Philosophy: A guide through the subject and Philosophy 2: Further through the subject.

Customer Reviews

Excellent, but...
I was a little uncertain about this book as I was very unimpressed with one of Grayling's more general introductory philosophy books. However this is an excellent introduction to Wittgenstein's thought (and in that respect (alone) superior to Monk's outstanding biography).

But, the assessment and comments on Wittgenstein's work seem at times like caricature (I will concede that Grayling is probably simplifying considerably more nuanced, sophisticated arguments so it may just seem that way).

His criticisms actually succeeded in making me more interested in Wittgenstein - what Grayling often highlighted as a flaw, I felt properly (or at least better) understood could be a significant strength.

a good intro
Certainly more readable than Wittgenstein's works, but I feel Grayling fails to focus enough on the ideas held within Wittgenstein's most important work, philosophical investigations. The idea of a context specific 'language-game' remains one of the most important notions put forward in twentieth-century philosophy. Grayling fails to show how that idea corresponds to other ideas/philosophers, and he equally fails to put forward one of the Wittgenstein's most perplexing ideas - does 'slab' when spoken mean 'slab', 'bring me a slab', 'look at that slab' etc, - i.e. what is the difference between a word and a sentence? Otherwise, the basics are set out in the 'very short intro', but I feel that Grayling underplays Wittgenstein's importance.

Enjoyable and critical, makes you want to know more
This is a well written book on Wittgenstein that is lucid and fun to read. It contains what you would expect to find in a first introduction. The author considers Wittgenstein to be somewhat overrated. I'm currently in no position to judge, but this book has really motivated me to delve deeper into the matter and also into Wittgenstein's biography.

Overall, a very good job, Mr Grayling!