Mind Association. Obituary: Ludwig Wittgenstein. Author(s): Bertrand Russell.
Reviewed work(s): Source: Mind, New Series, Vol. 60, No. 239 (Jul., 1951), pp.
Mind Association
Obituary: Ludwig Wittgenstein Author(s): Bertrand Russell Reviewed work(s): Source: Mind, New Series, Vol. 60, No. 239 (Jul., 1951), pp. 297-298 Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the Mind Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2251317 . Accessed: 27/10/2012 14:00 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
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VOL.
LX.
[July,1951
No. 239.]
M IND A QUARTERLY
REVIEW
OF
PSYCHOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY I.-OBITUARY THE
Editorregretsto announcethe death of Ludwig on 29 April,1951,at Cambridge. Wittgenstein II.-LUDWIG
WITTGENSTEIN
By BERTRANDRUSSELL WHEN I made the acquaintance of Wittgenstein, be told me
that he had been intendingto become an engineer,and with that end in view had gone to Manchester. In the course of he had become interestedin mathehis studies in engineering matics, and in the courseof his studiesin mathematicshe had become interestedin the principlesof mathematics. He asked people at Manchester(so he told me) whethertherewas such a subject, and whetheranyone worked at it. They told him that therewas such a subject and that be could findout more about it by comingto me at Cambridge,whichhe accordingly *did. Quite at firstI was in doubt as to whetherhe was a man of geniusor a crank,but I verysoondecidedin favouroftheformer alternative. Some ofhis earlyviewsmade the decisiondifficult. He maintained,for example, at one time that all existential propositionsare meaningless. This was in a lectureroom,and I invitedhimto considerthe proposition: " Thereis no hippopotamusin thisroomat present". Whenhe refusedto believe this,I looked underall the desks withoutfindingone; but he remainedunconvinced. 20 297
298
BERTRAND
RUSSELL:
WITTGENSTEIN
He made veryrapid progressin mathematicallogic,and soon knewall that I had to teach. He did not,I think,knowFrege personallyat that time,but he read him and greatlyadmired him. I naturallylost sight of him duringthe 1914-18war, but I got a letterfromhim soon afterthe armistice,writtenfrom Monte Casino. He told me that he had been taken prisoner, with his manuscript,whichwas the Tractatus. but fortunately I pulled stringsto get him releasedby the ItaliarnGoverDnent, and we met at the Hague, wherewe discussedthe Tractatus. line by line. I cannot say very much about his opinions before 1914, as thevwerein a state of formationand flux. He was thinking but was not yet arriving very intenselyand -veryfruitfully, at anythingverydefinite. While I was still doubtfulas to his ability, I asked G. E. Moore for his opinion. Moore replied, " I thinkverywellofhimindeed". WhenI enquiredthereason for his opinion,he said that it was because Wittgensteinwas the onlyman who lookedpuzzled at his lectures. Gettingto know Wittgensteinwas one of the most exciting intellectualadventuresof my life. In later years therewas a lack of intellectualsympathybetweenus, but in early years I was as willingto learnfromhim as he fromme. His thought had an almostincredibledegreeof passionatelyintensepenetraadmiration. tion, to whichI gave whole-hearted He was in the days before,1914 concernedalmost solely with logic. During or perhaps just before,the firstwar, he changed his outlook and became more or less of a mystic,as may be seen here ind therein the Tractatus. He had been dogmaticallyanti-Christian,but in this respect he changed completely. The only thinghe ever told me about this was that once in a village in Galicia duringthe war he found a bookshopcontainingonly one book, whichwas Tolstoyon the Gospels. He bought the book, and, accordingto him, it influencedhim profoundly. Of the developmentof his opinions after1919 I cannot speak. The Editorhopesto publishin the nextissue Memoirsby Prof. G. E. Moore,J. T. Wisdomand F. Waismanncoveringthe other life. periodsofLudwigWittgenstein's
