On Wed, 27 Oct 2004, andie nachgeborenen wrote:
> > Then, there is a question of W's understanding of
> > nazism and the European politics of 30s and 40s.
> > Wittgensteins were among the richest family in
> > Vienna and W's sisters were trapped in Vienna after
> > Nazi coquest of Austria. W apparently saved them
> > after paying a huge ransom to Nazis. His philosophy
> > doesn't seem to have offered him any understanding
> > of that period.
>
> The ransom story doesn't sound right. W gave away his
> fortune, though it is unclear to me exactly when. Here
> is from the Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy:
Arcana about Wittgenstein: my fav! Ludwig gave away his inheritance relatively early in his life to his sibs and various artist-types (around 1919). True, the Wittgenstein family ransomed his sisters during WW II; that took most of the remaining family fortune.
What any of this has to do with an assessment of W's philosophical work eludes me: "if only he had a coherent philosophy, then he would have known how to deal with those Nazi thugs!"
In fact, the assumption that philosophy would help someone with this kind of moral dilemma (do we enrich our enemies to protect our loved ones?) is exactly what Wittgenstein mercilessly ridiculed throughout his career as an (anti)philosopher.
Miles