WITTGENSTEIN, Ludwig Josef Johann (1889- 1951), Austrian-British
philosopher, who was one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century,
particularly noted for his contribution to the movement known as analytic
and linguistic philosophy. Wittgenstein was raised in a wealthy and cultured family.
After attending schools in Linz and Berlin, he went to England to study engineering at the
University of Manchester. His interest in pure mathematics led him to Trinity College,
University of Cambridge, to study with Bertrand Russell. There he turned his attention to
philosophy. By 1918 Wittgenstein had completed his Tractatus Logico-philosophicus
(1921; trans. 1922). In 1929 he returned to Cambridge to resume his work in philosophy and
was appointed to the faculty of Trinity College. Soon he began to reject certain
conclusions of the Tractatus and to develop the position reflected in his Philosophical
Investigations (pub. posthumously 1953; trans. 1953). Wittgenstein retired in
1947.Additional works of Wittgenstein, all posthumously published, include Remarks on
the Foundations of Mathematics (1956), The Blue and Brown Books (1958), and Notebooks
1914-1916 (1961).