Ludwig Wittgenstein

Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein
Ludwig Wittgenstein in 1910
Era	20th-century philosophy
Region	Western Philosophy
School	Analytic philosophy, Post-Analytic Philosophy
Main interests	Metaphysics, Epistemology, Logic, Philosophy of language, Philosophy of mathematics, Philosophy of mind
Notable ideas	For a large class of cases, the meaning of a word is its use in the language; the idea of a logically private language is incoherent; philosophical problems arise due to misuse of language.
Influences Frege, Russell, Schopenhauer, Moore, Sraffa, Ramsey, Kant, Kierkegaard, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Hertz, Boltzmann, Kraus, Weininger, Augustine, Goethe, Spengler
Influenced Russell, G. E. M. Anscombe, Norman Malcolm, Rush Rhees, D.Z. Phillips, P.M.S. Hacker, Vienna Circle, Logical Positivism, Analytic Philosophy, Ordinary Language Philosophy

Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ([luːtvɪç ˈjoːzɛf ˈjoːhan ˈvɪtgənʃtaɪn] in German) (April 26, 1889 – April 29, 1951) was an Austrian philosopher. He worked mainly in the basics of logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language.^[1] He is regarded as one of the most important philosophers of the twentieth century.

Before his death at the age of 62,^[2] the only book Wittgenstein had published was the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. His second book Philosophical Investigations was published shortly after he died. Both of these works are regarded as very important for analytic philosophy.^[3]

1. ↑ "Time 100: Scientists and Thinkers". Time Magazine Online. Archived from the original on May 8, 2009. Retrieved April 29, 2006.
2. ↑ Give Him Genius or Give Him Death. Article by Anthony Kenny, New York Times
3. ↑ Wittgenstein’s Significance Archived 2008-08-20 at the Wayback Machine, article by Mark J. Cain, Philosophy Now 2001