Ludwig Wittgenstein - The Duty of Genius (Hardcover)

Born in 1889, Wittgenstein grew up in one of the wealthiest families in Vienna, and here emerged an all-consuming preoccupation with spiritual, ethical and cultural questions. His development as a philosopher began in 1922 when he became a student of Bertrand Russell at Cambridge. The work which he started then culminated in "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus". His concern over philosophical problems was heightened during his time as a soldier in the First World War and confused by the acute difficulties he encountered professionally and personally as a schoolteacher in rural Austria.;In his forties he took the decision to return to philosophy. His radical re-thinking of his earlier theory - published posthumously in 1953 as "Philosophical Investigations" - led him to develop an approach to his subject which has dominated philosophical discourse ever since.;Based on Wittgenstein's own papers, his correspondence, and interviews with his friends, family and students, this book is an analysis of the importance of Wittgenstein's work with a portrait of a powerful and compelling man, who is commonly preceived as a tortured genius.