§11.

From the brief sketch I have made of Gustave Flaubert we can assume that he was utterly persistent in his striving to write the books he wanted to write. And when we come to Ludwig Wittgenstein we are meeting another stubborn ( "eigensinnig" or even "einsinnig" in the terminology of Otto Weiniger... ) man, who walked his own way through life, but he was not so stubborn, though, that it was impossible for him to change his philosophy. He did so. Because of that one talks in philosophy about Wittgenstein I. and Wittgenstein II..( But Wittgenstein II was born posthumously. When he died in 1951, from cancer, most of his works had not yet been published.)
Ludwig was in some other respect just like Gustave than the one mentioned too. He was regarded as stupid by his parents. His birth took place in Vienna in the 1880ies and he had brothers who got very sophisticated educations. The Wittgensteins were extremely rich people, - maybe belonging to the top 100 richest people in town. Ludwig´s father, a Jew like the entire family, had among other things built railways in Russia. One of the Wittgenstein brothers became a very good pianist too. The sisters stayed wealthy. But Ludwig only went through more simple schooling, and after having served in the army ( on a boat, which is rather original for an Austrian ) he for some years became a schoolteacher in a small village in the alps.
But we are running a bit ahead now. Because during the World War I. young Ludwig , who had studied philosophy in Vienna, and looked up the famous philosopher Frege, who was a famous author known for his skill with concepts, wrote a small book that soon would make him very famous. He not only became very famous: the book was an enigmatic book ( in parts ) and a rather good one, and he also changed the picture of what it “was” to be a philosopher in the 20ieth century.
The Tractatus Logico Philosophicus is a very unusual book for a being a renowned book on philosophical matters. It has a buildup in layers and it contains both crystal clear things and completely obscure ones. What Wittgenstein had set out to do, in the midst of his life as a soldier, was to solve every problem once and for all. This book was a definite one. Despite its smallness as a physical volume (25000 words.).( I myself have a copy of it in a bookshelf. )
The book was not completed during the war, but afterwards, and he sent it to Great Britain, to Bertrand Russell, who later became his friend, so to say. Russell became very impressed. Why so ? is the immediate question, - at least to a philosopher ( like me [smile], Russell and Wittgenstein ). Now B. Russell was an open-minded character, a womanizer and in philosophy an eclectic. ( We have to linger a bit here on Russell.). He had been a Hegelian and he tended to become a Marxist, he was a mathematician and wrote tons of books on matters of daily life, on marriage and – more important – of peace. Russell – I think - became very impressed by the range of discoveries and important notes contained in the Tractatus. And Russell liked very much broad knowledge. Much because he himself had an enormous knowledge in different areas, and knowledge was a great part of his life, - knowledge and enjoying knowledge and intellect. Russell had published the extraordinary book on mathematics ( Principia Mathematica ) together with Whitehead ( which was taking to the printing factory in a roller by Whitehead) . This book became widely discussed later. Among people admired by Russell Wittgenstein certainly stood out, at least for a while, but No.1 to Russell was always John Maynard Keynes, who was probably the only person who Russell at the same time admired despite he had not been able to grasp the content of the doctoral thesis, presented by the man. Keynes thesis was on probability, and Keynes mainly earned his money by cleverly placing more money in stocks, and he loved men and art. Thus Russell became interested in a young ...

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