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39 reviews for:
Monk, Ray ( Author )(Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius ) Paperback
Ray Monk, Ray Monk
4.41 AVERAGE
39 reviews for:
Monk, Ray ( Author )(Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius ) Paperback
Ray Monk, Ray Monk
4.41 AVERAGE
Notes:
“Normal human beings are a balm to me…and a torment at the same time.”
"Drury added that he hoped Wittgenstein would make lots of friends. Wittgenstein replied: 'It is obvious to me that you are becoming thoughtless and stupid. How could you imagine I would ever have lots of friends?'" (Remark: officially one of my favorite books for this segment alone)
"Exhaustion, loneliness, madness—these were his lot, and he had to accept them: ‘Only nothing theatrical. Of that you must guard against.’"
"He would, according to Russell, ‘pace up and down like a wild beast for three hours in agitated silence.’ Once, Russell asked: ‘Are you thinking about logic or your sins?’ ‘Both’, Wittgenstein replied, and continued his pacing."
"They ridiculed him by chanting an alliterative jingle that made play of his unhappiness and of the distance between him and the rest of the school: _‘Wittgenstein wndelt wehmütig widriger Winde wegen Wienwärts_.’ (‘Wittgenstein wends his woeful windy way towards Vienna.’) In his efforts to make friends, he felt, he later said, ‘betrayed and sold’ by his schoolmates."
“The great problem round which everything I write turns is: Is there an order in the world a priori, and if so what does it consist in?”
"I must UNFORTUNATELY go to Vienna. There was no way out of it…The thought of going home appals me…Being here does me no end of good and I do not think I could now bear life among people."
“From time to time I was afraid [of dying]. That is the fault of a false view of life.”
“Normal human beings are a balm to me…and a torment at the same time.”
"Drury added that he hoped Wittgenstein would make lots of friends. Wittgenstein replied: 'It is obvious to me that you are becoming thoughtless and stupid. How could you imagine I would ever have lots of friends?'" (Remark: officially one of my favorite books for this segment alone)
"Exhaustion, loneliness, madness—these were his lot, and he had to accept them: ‘Only nothing theatrical. Of that you must guard against.’"
"He would, according to Russell, ‘pace up and down like a wild beast for three hours in agitated silence.’ Once, Russell asked: ‘Are you thinking about logic or your sins?’ ‘Both’, Wittgenstein replied, and continued his pacing."
"They ridiculed him by chanting an alliterative jingle that made play of his unhappiness and of the distance between him and the rest of the school: _‘Wittgenstein wndelt wehmütig widriger Winde wegen Wienwärts_.’ (‘Wittgenstein wends his woeful windy way towards Vienna.’) In his efforts to make friends, he felt, he later said, ‘betrayed and sold’ by his schoolmates."
“The great problem round which everything I write turns is: Is there an order in the world a priori, and if so what does it consist in?”
"I must UNFORTUNATELY go to Vienna. There was no way out of it…The thought of going home appals me…Being here does me no end of good and I do not think I could now bear life among people."
“From time to time I was afraid [of dying]. That is the fault of a false view of life.”
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Думаю, за пафос і маркетинговість назви: "The Duty of Genius" !!! Рей Монк отримав би від В. легкий укус в лице
> девочка, которой не давалась математика, вспоминает, что однажды В. дернул ее за волосы так сильно, что потом, когда она причесывалась, выпал целый клок
> если вы совершили убийство или собираетесь сменить веру, нет лучше советчика чем В. но с обычными тревогами и страхами к нему лучше не обращаться, "его лечение всегда было радикальным, хирургическим. Он избавлял вас от первородного греха"
> девочка, которой не давалась математика, вспоминает, что однажды В. дернул ее за волосы так сильно, что потом, когда она причесывалась, выпал целый клок
> если вы совершили убийство или собираетесь сменить веру, нет лучше советчика чем В. но с обычными тревогами и страхами к нему лучше не обращаться, "его лечение всегда было радикальным, хирургическим. Он избавлял вас от первородного греха"
What a character.
Contextualises some of his writings and interests in a very personal and lucid narrative, but his personality is the true star of the show here.
It really makes me wonder how he would have fared in modern academic structures - probably terribly, and that might not even be a criticism.
Wonderful biography, I think? I've not read many, but I enjoyed this tremendously.
Contextualises some of his writings and interests in a very personal and lucid narrative, but his personality is the true star of the show here.
It really makes me wonder how he would have fared in modern academic structures - probably terribly, and that might not even be a criticism.
Wonderful biography, I think? I've not read many, but I enjoyed this tremendously.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
slow-paced
this is an utterly captivating biography of one of the greatest thinkers of the modern age — or, permit me this hyperbole, perhaps of any age; though wittgenstein might have eschewed this hyperbolic idol worship in favour of actual philosophising. he himself turned against academic tradition and often made very great boasts of him never having read much of the philosophical canon. (in a meeting regarding the validity of descarte's cogito for instance, he turned away from the topic and instead talked about his own philosophy.)
nevertheless, his is a great mind and his philosophy, too, is a great one — if only we could understand it! to be sure, wittgensteinian scholarship is prolific and boundless, but wittgenstein himself despaired of being able to be understood in his lifetime. now that his lifetime is long past, do we now stand a chance of understanding him or is his despair still as valid as ever? his philosophical writings read more like aphorisms from the gnostic gospels than any actual philosophical work, commanding the reader to imagine situations the same way christ might have told parables. nevertheless, like christ, there is an audience for these imaginary landscapes, and it is a landscape that is day by day still being explored.
yet, through it all, a question remains: would wittgenstein approve of the voluminous scholarship regarding him and his work? would he have liked our attempts at pseudo-psychoanalysis, this great work of monk's that links his life and his philosophy and treats them as one? when a contemporary raised up the possibility of his sexuality influencing his philosophy, he disapproved almost immediately: "certainly not!" would he have approved of this, then, which — though it does not make a great big fuss of his sexuality — made a great big fuss of everything else?
don't get me wrong: this is a superb biography, all at once captivating and engrossing, bringing to life a man who is, perhaps, larger than life; yet wittgenstein was also a neurotic man, capable of stern isolationism and a cloying need for companionship. in the baring of the parts of his soul, would he have liked the idea of being understood or would he have been annoyed at our ever-present need to know everything there is to know about him and his life?
paradoxical as it may seem, i think he would have been capable of both at the same time — and that is our struggle to live with now, no longer his, for his time of struggling is now past and it is our turn to grapple with such and many other questions.
nevertheless, his is a great mind and his philosophy, too, is a great one — if only we could understand it! to be sure, wittgensteinian scholarship is prolific and boundless, but wittgenstein himself despaired of being able to be understood in his lifetime. now that his lifetime is long past, do we now stand a chance of understanding him or is his despair still as valid as ever? his philosophical writings read more like aphorisms from the gnostic gospels than any actual philosophical work, commanding the reader to imagine situations the same way christ might have told parables. nevertheless, like christ, there is an audience for these imaginary landscapes, and it is a landscape that is day by day still being explored.
yet, through it all, a question remains: would wittgenstein approve of the voluminous scholarship regarding him and his work? would he have liked our attempts at pseudo-psychoanalysis, this great work of monk's that links his life and his philosophy and treats them as one? when a contemporary raised up the possibility of his sexuality influencing his philosophy, he disapproved almost immediately: "certainly not!" would he have approved of this, then, which — though it does not make a great big fuss of his sexuality — made a great big fuss of everything else?
don't get me wrong: this is a superb biography, all at once captivating and engrossing, bringing to life a man who is, perhaps, larger than life; yet wittgenstein was also a neurotic man, capable of stern isolationism and a cloying need for companionship. in the baring of the parts of his soul, would he have liked the idea of being understood or would he have been annoyed at our ever-present need to know everything there is to know about him and his life?
paradoxical as it may seem, i think he would have been capable of both at the same time — and that is our struggle to live with now, no longer his, for his time of struggling is now past and it is our turn to grapple with such and many other questions.
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Antisemitism
Moderate: Violence
Minor: War
slow-paced
This is one of the best biographies I've ever read. Monk does a great job combining personal history with an accurate general overview of Wittgenstein's intellectual evolution. It sort of destroyed me in college for a bit, but I'd highly highly recommend this book.