Wittgenstein

The life of Ludwig Wittgenstein, his ideas, his torment, his relationships with Bertrand Russell and Maynard Keynes, as well as the intellectual and social circles in which he established himself in Cambridge. A dramatization, in modern theatrical style, of the life and thought of the Viennese-born, Cambridge-educated philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), whose principal interest was the nature and limits of language. A series of sketches depict the unfolding of his life from boyhood, through the era of the first World War, to his eventual Cambridge professorship and association with Bertrand Russell and John Maynard Keynes. The emphasis in these sketches is on the exposition of the ideas of Wittgenstein, a homosexual, and an intuitive, moody, proud, and perfectionistic thinker generally regarded as a genius. —Anonymous While not amongst the action himself or being discussed by others, Ludwig Wittgenstein narrates the story of and editorializes about his life. Born in 1889 in Vienna to a family of privilege, he was a precocious child and was considered a prodigy. He was educated in Vienna and Manchester, before settling into a career as a philosopher at Cambridge University, where he had associations with such luminaries as Bertrand Russell and John Maynard Keynes. He is considered one of the greatest philosophers of his time, his work which was largely on the association between philosophy and logic, philosophy and mathematics, and philosophy and language. However, he spent his entire life trying to disentangle himself from his privileged upbringing and education by simplifying his life, as he disliked philosophy as a subject. This mission was largely without success. His story is also told within the context of his homosexuality. —Huggo