Wittgenstein, the protagonist to the most dramatic life ever told, becoming the coolest man ever concocted.
Ludwig Wittgenstein, was born on April 26, 1889 in Vienna, Austria to a wealthy, industrial, Jewish family. To give you a picture of how wealthy the Wittgenstein were, take a look at this portrait.
That’s a portrait of Margaret Wittgenstein, Ludwig’s sister, on her wedding day. This portrait was painted by GUSTAV KLIMT. Klimt painted masterpieces such as The Kiss, Danae, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, which sold for 154.9 million dollars in 2006. Johanne Brahms gave frequently came over to give private concerts. Even during the great depression they owned 13 mansions in Vienna alone. They became the second wealthiest family in Austria, behind to only the Rothchild family… THE ROTHCHILDS.
Ludwig grew up with to an unsympathetic father, Karl, and an insecure mother, Leopoldine. He was the youngest of nine children. There were four girls, one of which died during infancy, and five boys – three of which committed suicide. The eldest, Hans, was a musical prodigy, able to detect a sour note from the age of four. The only other brother to survive, Paul, became a concert pianist despite losing one of his arms in WWI. Their father, Karl Wittgenstein was a stickler for private education and discipline. Many of them lacked the proper affection needed during adolescence.
Later on he attended Cambridge University to study mathematics, where he became acquainted with philosophy and Bertrand Russell. Bertrand Russell said that once he would get old and grey, Ludwig would complete the work he had not would be unable.
To be honest, Ludwig Wittgenstein might be the most interesting man on the planet. His philosophy revolves around logic, being, life, and eternity. Working the questions of metaphysics, he works in incredible passion and infatuation with his work… which is essentially life. He was rumored to be quite the lady and man charmer. He fought in the war. Wittgenstein wrote the massive “Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus.” He had a one armed pianist for a brother my goodness sake. His views on life and being revolve around moments. Moments are atoms, in a sense.
My favorite quote that I came across whilst researching Wittgenstein either…
“If people never did silly things nothing intelligent would ever get done.”
Due to the fact, now whenever I’m off doing silly things, I get to do them in the name of intellect.. which I will later cultivate.
OR
“Death is not an event in life: we do not live to experience death. If we take eternity to mean not infinite temporal duration but timelessness, then eternal life belongs to those who live in the present.”
What I take from this is if we look at our lives as simply the duration of time between birth and death we may only live those years. If we look at life as simply time, moments, the present, the future… no inevitable end, we are living eternally. We experience timelessness as we stay present.
If we look at the teachings of Nietzche, “God is dead,” he is removing conventional meaning from life. Life is essentially meaningless. People take this as “we have no purpose, why go on”, OR “this thing, this life, it’s meaningless. I am free.” We look at liberation through being, how to be, what to be. “What is” in the first place?
If we are able to unbind ourselves from the one thing we are truly bound to, time and ourselves, we achieve ultimate liberation. Then we use our ultimate liberation to continue to seek other things in which we are bound. Curious stuff, huh?
Philosophy 12 
This is a vexing (yet, I think absolutely astute) observation, Julie: “If we are able to unbind ourselves from the one thing we are truly bound to, time and ourselves, we achieve ultimate liberation. Then we use our ultimate liberation to continue to seek other things in which we are bound.”
It is interesting to wonder whether this unbinding occurs again and again based around the vision of a recurring liberation (the same victory, waged endlessly against ourselves and time), or singular and new binds every time. The question (for me) here is whether the difference between the two is a choice, or subconscious action, on my part, or part of each of our experiences (ie, if I choose to see them similarly or disparate, does that make them so?).
The metaphysician Paul Ricoer – who Jen A. studied for this unit last year – comes to mind. Ricoer’s main thesis:
“…built upon the works of Aristotle and Kant, is that the self is composed of the stories we write to explain what we feel and see. In other words, “you are who you think you are.” Therefore, Ricoeur’s main question, “Who am I?,” can’t ever truly be answered, as the seeker is also the sought.”
(https://talonsphilosophy.wordpress.com/2012/10/25/jennifer-tell-your-own-story/)
A couple of educational philosophers I enjoy both talk a lot about the necessity for people to look into the themes of their “historical epochs” to advance society. Paulo Freire says that we must look to cultivate:
“…the critical and dynamic view of the world, [which] strives to unveil reality, unmask its mythicization, and achieve a full realization of the human task: the permanent transformation of reality in favor of the liberation of people.”
(About which I blogged a bit this week: http://bryanjack.ca/2013/10/09/limit-situations-double-binds-transformative-learning/)
Do you think Wittenstein’s superlative upbringing allowed him in some ways to glimpse a world ‘beyond’ his society, somehow? Or, give him the foundation to envision his own emancipation from the dominant culture, if not ours?
Looking forward to seeing where he takes you for Phil’s Day Off,
Mr. J
Posted by bryanjack | October 11, 2013, 10:38 pmThis reminds me of what my mother keeps telling me,
“live in the present, dont look forward to the future, because if your constantly waiting for something new to happen, you cant enjoy what you are currently part taking in”
~mom
Posted by thelaserbeam17 | October 15, 2013, 6:04 pmAlso, I am curious to what/if wittenstein mathematically did around his philosophical concepts. Whether or not he had any contribution to reality and logic as modern physicists do?
Posted by thelaserbeam17 | October 15, 2013, 6:12 pmThe fact that Wittgenstein was a mathematician lead his study into limits and certainty. In the study of patterns we try and break the limits that to which we are bound to find new limits e try and break. Math is a perfect parallel to life. It’s the study of patterns to manipulate patterns, limits, certainty.
Posted by julieisafriendofmine | October 15, 2013, 6:35 pm