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Ludwig Wittgenstein: Philosophy in the Age of Airplanes
Author(s): Anthony Gottlieb (Author)
- Publisher: Yale University Press
- Publication Date: October 21, 2025
- Language: English
- Print length: 232 pages
- ISBN-10: 0300180470
- ISBN-13: 9780300180473
Book Description
The first biography in more than three decades of the Austrian-born thinker Ludwig Wittgenstein, one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century
“An engrossing biography [that] focuses on what is most essential and interesting in the philosopher’s work and life. . . . It is rare to find a book that you can open at random and almost always find something that piques your interest.”―Julian Baggini, Wall Street Journal
“Very clear and lively and interesting.”―Nigel Warburton, Five Books, “Best Philosophy Books of 2025”
According to the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951), philosophy is a “battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language.” This audacious idea changed the way many of its practitioners saw their subject. In the first biography of Wittgenstein in more than three decades, Anthony Gottlieb evaluates this revolutionary idea, explaining the evolution of Wittgenstein’s thought and his place in the history of philosophy.
Wittgenstein was born into an immensely rich Viennese family but yearned to live a simple life, and he gave away his inheritance. After studying with Bertrand Russell in Cambridge, he wrote his famous Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus while serving in World War I. He then took several positions as a primary-school teacher in rural Austria before returning as a fellow to Cambridge, where a cultlike following developed around him. Wittgenstein worked not only as a philosopher and schoolteacher, but also as an aeronautical engineer in Manchester and as an architect in Vienna.
Gottlieb’s meticulously researched book traces the itinerant and troubled life of Wittgenstein, the development of his influential ideas, and the Viennese intellectual milieu and family background that shaped him.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Gottlieb . . . aims for a human biography where the ideas are kept firmly in their place. . . . Precisely because it doesn’t try to say everything, [it] illuminates everything it touches.”―Nikhil Krishnan,
New York Times“Gottlieb, in his rich portrait of his subject’s thought and milieu, rendered in exquisite prose, also captures a mystical side to the Austrian thinker.”―Alex Dean,
Financial Times“An engrossing biography [that] focuses on what is most essential and interesting in the philosopher’s work and life. . . . Mr. Gottlieb comes well-equipped for the task. There is no flab in his prose. It is rare to find a book that you can open at random and almost always find something that piques your interest.”―Julian Baggini,
Wall Street Journal“A lucid, brilliant biography and explanation of the man and his thinking, . . . [a book] as startling as the philosophy.”―Bryan Appleyard,
Engelsberg Ideas“Very clear and lively and interesting.”―Nigel Warburton,
Five Books, “Best Philosophy Books of 2025”“Gottlieb does something that has certainly not been done before: he illustrates not only the extent to which Wittgenstein’s extraordinary character affected the manner of his philosophising, but also the extent to which that extraordinary character emerged naturally from the cultural contradictions of his extraordinary family.”―Oliver Letwin,
Tablet“A moving portrait of [Wittgenstein’s] tortured, passionate and exuberant life.”―Jane O’Grady,
Literary Review“A deft biography of a staggering mind, told through his all-too-human relationships to family, friends, and lovers.”—
Kirkus Reviews“Gottlieb, with his extensive background in the history of philosophy, is . . . refreshingly honest, willing to present his subject’s contradictions without tidying them up for posterity.”―Bettina Berch, Jewish Book Council
“An entertaining and beautifully written fresh new look at one of the major personalities of philosophy.”—A. C. Grayling, author of
Wittgenstein: A Very Short Introduction“With philosophical sophistication and writerly grace, Anthony Gottlieb crafts a narrative rich with historical and intellectual detail and subtlety. But though the vistas can be broad, the result is an intimate portrait of a thinker who redefined the boundaries of philosophy.”—Kwame Anthony Appiah, New York University
“The outline of Wittgenstein’s life is well known. But he remains enigmatic, and in this book Anthony Gottlieb casts valuable new light on the role of his family, and of his wider intellectual and musical environment, in fashioning the strange and contradictory genius he became.”—Simon Blackburn, author of
Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy“I read everything by Anthony Gottlieb for his clarity of mind, engaging style, erudition, and—most of all—his contagious love of philosophy. This book is a real page-turner.”—Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of the
Incerto (The Black Swan and Antifragile)
