Ludwig Wittgenstein

Austrian philosopher and logician (1889–1951)

  • Fame80.0
  • Momentum0.0
  • United Kingdom rank#115
Source-basedFalling
  • Fame80.0
  • Momentum0.0
  • United Kingdom rank#115
  • Academics rank#48
  • Wikipedia111K
Lived 1889–1951, aged 62United Kingdom
  • Wikipedia
    127 languages
    Cross-language footprint
  • Rank in United Kingdom
    #115
    Academics
  • Era
    1889–1951
    Aged 62
  • Known for
    As from Afar
    2013
Summary
Updated 2026-06-21

He published one slim book in his lifetime — 75 pages that tried to solve all philosophical problems — then spent the rest of his career dismantling it. The Tractatus and the Investigations stand as opposite poles of 20th-century thought, both written by the same man.

Biography

About

Born in 1889 into one of Europe's richest families in Vienna, Wittgenstein inherited a fortune in 1913 and immediately gave large sums to struggling artists including Rilke and Trakl — then, in 1916, donated a million crowns for a military mortar. Three of his four older brothers died by suicide. He served as a decorated officer on the front line in World War I, then gave away his remaining wealth in a period of severe depression and left academia to teach in remote Austrian villages, where he used violent corporal punishment on students during math classes and sparked controversy in incidents…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Ludwig Wittgenstein

Ludwig Wittgenstein
said
You won't — I really believe — get too much out of reading it. Because you won't understand it; the content will seem strange to you.
On his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, in a letter to Ludwig von Ficker (1919), published in Wittgenstein: Sources and Perspectives (1979)
Ludwig Wittgenstein
said
It is necessary to be given the prop that all elementary props are given." This is not necessary because it is even impossible. There is no such prop!
Notes of 1919, as quoted in Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius (1990) by Ray Monk
Ludwig Wittgenstein
said
I work quite diligently and wish that I were better and smarter. And these both are one and the same.
In a letter to Paul Engelmann (1917) as quoted in The Idea of Justice (2010) by Amartya Sen, p. 31
Ludwig Wittgenstein
said
It is one of the chief skills of the philosopher not to occupy himself with questions which do not concern him.
Journal entry (1 May 1915)
Ludwig Wittgenstein
said
I cannot get from the nature of the proposition to the individual logical operations!!! That is, I cannot bring out how far the proposition is the picture of the situation.
Journal entries (12 March 1915 and 15 March 1915) p. 41e
By the numbers

Score breakdown

The six component signals behind the Fame score, and their ranks across the leaderboards.

Fame
Falling
80.0
Composite of search demand, mentions, audience & graph footprint.
Score components
Historical28.0
Now attention13.0
Source confidence70.0
Completeness80.0
Receipts

Sources

  • Wikipedia
    wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
    High confidence
  • Wikidata
    wikidata · wikidata.org
    High confidence
  • Pantheon 2.0
    database · pantheon.world
    High confidence