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Ludwig Wittgenstein: Philosophy in the Age of Airplanes
Ludwig Wittgenstein: Philosophy in the Age of Airplanes
By Anthony Gottlieb
Published October 21, 2025
232 pages
“Entertaining and beautifully written” —A. C. Grayling
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
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.
About the Author
Anthony Gottlieb is an author, book critic, and former executive editor of The Economist. He is the author of The Dream of Reason: A History of Western Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance and The Dream of Enlightenment: The Rise of Modern Philosophy.
Author Photograph © Jessica Anne Schwartz
Reviews
“A deft biography of a staggering mind, told through his all-too-human relationships to family, friends, and lovers.” —Kirkus Reviews
“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)
