''Culture and Value'' is a selection from the personal notes of

Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian- British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He is consi ...

made by

Georg Henrik von Wright Georg Henrik von Wright (; 14 June 1916 – 16 June 2003) was a Finnish philosopher. Biography G. H. von Wright was born in Helsinki on 14 June 1916 to Tor von Wright and his wife Ragni Elisabeth Alfthan. On the retirement of Ludwig Wittgenste ...

. It was first published in German as ''Vermischte Bemerkungen'' in 1977 with the text being emended in following editions. Wright's second (1978) expanded edition was translated by Peter Winch and published in 1980 (and reprinted in 1984) as ''Culture and Value''. Alois Pichler revised the work (producing a new German edition in 1994) and this was published with a new translation by Peter Winch in 1998. The remarks are arranged in chronological order with an indication of their year of origin. Nearly half of them stem from the period after the completion (in 1945) of Part One of

Philosophical Investigations ''Philosophical Investigations'' (german: Philosophische Untersuchungen) is a work by the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, published posthumously in 1953. ''Philosophical Investigations'' is divided into two parts, consisting of what Wittgens ...

. At the end of the book appears a poem which was offered by Wittgenstein to the Hofrat Ludwig Hänsel, and it is assumed that he was its author. Among the published notes particular attention has been bestowed on a passage where Wittgenstein enumerated people who, in his judgement, had influenced him: Boltzmann,

Hertz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that o ...

Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work ''The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the pr ...

Frege Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege (; ; 8 November 1848 – 26 July 1925) was a German philosopher, logician, and mathematician. He was a mathematics professor at the University of Jena, and is understood by many to be the father of analytic p ...

, Russell,

Kraus Kraus is a German surname meaning "curly". Notable people with the surname include: * Adalbert Kraus (born 1937), German tenor * Adam Kraus (born 1984), American footballer * Adolf Kraus (1850–1928), lawyer and Jewish leader * Adolph Robert ...

, Loos, Weininger,

Spengler Spengler is a German-language occupational surname, literally meaning "metal worker" or " tin knocker". It may refer to: * Alexander Spengler (1827–1901), the first Davos doctor specializing in tuberculosis * Bruno Spengler (born 1983), a Canadia ...

and Sraffa. Of note to literary scholars, the book also contains some of Wittgenstein's thoughts on

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

, negatively comparing his depictions of character to those of

Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...

. A further note dating from the same year (1931) witnesses the first occurrence of the term '

family resemblance Family resemblance (german: Familienähnlichkeit, link=no) is a philosophical idea made popular by Ludwig Wittgenstein, with the best known exposition given in his posthumously published book '' Philosophical Investigations'' (1953). It argues t ...

' in a discussion of Spengler's work.Wittgenstein (1998), p. 21

References

External links

Books by Ludwig Wittgenstein Philosophy of religion literature {{Reli-philo-book-stub