Ray Monk

The positivist, analytical tradition in philosophy is what most people would associate Wittgenstein with in the first instance, provided they had heard of him in the first place. Because of his, and because of his philosophical attacks on the meaningfulness of the concepts of metaphysics, theology, spirituality and even most of logic, he is often depicted as some sort of cold, unfeeling Grand Master sitting on a pinnacle of Genius of Philosophy. But as Ray Monk's biography shows with much show more vigour, he was in reality a very troubled, confused, unhappy, spiritual, and above all very human person.

Making use of all the manuscripts available as well as the many correspondences of Wittgenstein, Ray Monk, a philosopher at the U of Southampton, is able to show the Wittgenstein we know as a person that one could not only sympathize with, but even pity. Because as it appears from the biography, Wittgenstein was a deeply unhappy man. His relationships were, from early life on, troubled - not as often supposed because of their bisexual nature, but rather because of his general revulsion to what he calls "sensuality" on the whole, and his tendency to flee from the people he loved. His friendships fared no better, since Wittgenstein was both fickle and dominating, unable to deal with disagreement and very strong in his views even on very minor things of daily life - which leads to repeated diary notes and comments by everyone, from Keynes to Russell, on how talking to Wittgenstein was simply too exhausting. Add to this a constant wrestling with the fact that Wittgenstein was very religious, yet thought all religious theory meaningless babble, and you have a recipe for depression.

Monk of course also pays attention to the content of his philosophical views, and makes sure that these are, in broad outlines, accessible and useful to a general public. For specialists and professional philosophers this will rather be a tantalizing overview than a sufficient working out of Wittgenstein's philosophical views, but fortunately Monk has also written several works of secondary literature on the subject, so that people can read those if they enjoy this biography (which I would certainly read first): "How to Read Wittgenstein". What Monk does best is to integrate these philosophical viewpoints into the larger narrative of his life, precisely as a good biography of a philosopher requires. The only thing I found somewhat unsatisfying was why Wittgenstein changed his views so strongly after the Tractatus, more or less rejecting the entire foundation this work was based on. One would have expected something personal to reflect as radically the change in philosophy, but either it isn't there, or Monk doesn't bring it out.

The style of writing Monk uses is very pleasant, and he avoids being opinionated either way (though he seems to sympathize with Wittgenstein's spiritual problematic a lot more than I would). An appendix to the book also deals with the (in)famous Bartley's commentaries on Wittgenstein, in particular those parts dealing with his sex life. Ray Monk very sensibly here chooses the middle road - it is quite beyond any doubt that Wittgenstein had homosexual relations, but the idea of him prowling the Prater in search for rentboys belongs firmly in the domain of fantasy.

I devoured the 600-page biography of this neurotic genius in one weekend, owing to the fascinating nature of the subject as well as Monk's effective and lively portrayal of him. Very much recommended to a wide public. show less

The strength of this book lies equally in its brevity and its authorship. Only a truly informed lover of Russell such as Monk could achieve so concise and elucidatory a review. What's more, by situating Russell's life's work in his early childhood traumas, one gleans so much more than just a clear and accessible panoramic overview of the evolution in his thinking, itself an incredible achievement for subject matter so heavy, but one also appreciates the personal mission in Russell's life's show more work to prove the existence of absolute truth. In this way, [spoiler alert] when one reaches the end of these 58 printed pages, one is able thus to interpret its ending not as a failure of mission but as transcendence. So Russell renounces the search for absolute truth, and in this way, finally is able to accept, integrate and overcome the great loss and uncertainty of his early life. At a spiritual level we come to understand his superficial failure as his most meaningful success. This is a movingly universal and inspirational tale with meaning beyond the history of western philosophical thought. And how charming to by the way come to understand the genealogy of the language of my high school mathematics teachers. This story of a man who largely did his thinking alone and can be said to have achieved nothing in his life, can also so clearly be understood to have created the language and frameworks from which entire field(s) of thinking would arise within a generation. A fantastic introduction to Russell - and Wittgenstein - and very well told. Bravo! show less

I believe this biography helped me understand what Wittgenstein was up to more than anything else I've read about him. Not many thinkers have propounded one set of ideas, then stopped, reconsidered, then came back with a new way of looking at philosophy.

Second reading:
I have to admit I had no memory of reading this book before, and was surprised to find this ten year old review.

This time I took seven pages of notes, and was interested in his later work more than the early writings. I read show more this book as a biography, but even more for its discussions of what Wittgenstein believed philosophically. He comes across as a complex character, strong willed and at the same time full of doubts about himself.

Philosophers still argue over what Wittgenstein meant, like they do over the work of any important thinker, so I am not ashamed to say I still don't really understand him. Still he's considered one of the greats of the 20th century.

The best thing a good intellectual biography can do is give its readers something to think about, and Ray Monk has certainly done that for me. show less

This was a really marvelous little book--it really broke down Wittengenstein's arguments and made me excited to try to actually engage with Wittgenstein's writings on my own, especially the later stuff. I think the parts explaining Wittegenstein's earlier work was not as clear to me, which I'm gonna call a me thing and not a problem with Monk's writing or explanation. The later work though felt much more clear to me through Monk's explanations, and I found the chapter on language games to be show more particularly helpful and interesting! I definitely feel better equipped to try to go forth and read Wittgenstein's actual works after this, which means it did its job! show less