by Anthony Gottlieb
A fine short biography of the philosopher who explored, among much else, the questions of whether language is complete: are there things that can be known but cannot be expressed in language? Wittgenstein had a knack for knowing people: at school, there was a boy a couple of classes ahead of him named Hitler. His brother Paul was a concert pianist, and when he lost an arm in the First World War he went right ahead an commissioned a repertoire of piano work for the left hand, a collection that would prove invaluable to Leon Fleisher when Fleisher lost the use of his right hand. Wittgenstein was also strange and perverse fellow who quarreled with his admirers, disparaged his teachers, and deplored his own character. Essentially friendless, when Vienna grew unwelcoming to Jews he slotted directly into a lectureship at Cambridge. He frequently lived in people’s spare rooms. Wittgenstein was impatient with amateur philosophy, but seldom read philosophy himself and cost himself a good deal of trouble because, wanting a degree, he refused to cite sources in his dissertation.
