This is a very good biography of the brilliant, very influential, and rather odd Ludwig Wittgenstein. Monk needed the cooperation of the Wittgenstein estate to do the masterful job he did and if that means overly apologizing for Wittgenstein's 'sins' (of ommission or commission) so be it - Monk has met the duty of a biographer in protraying a fascinating mind and helping elucidate Wittgenstein's more obscure writing. Also, for a man who doubted the ability of language to convey experience, Wittgenstein doesn't seem to doubt himself very much or if he did, it was in the wrong areas. I imagine a good case could be made for Wittgenstein fitting the profile of Asperger's Syndrome. Wittgenstein didn't seem to care much for other people outside of his ability to bully them intellectually. That said, it does seem that Monk bends over backward to apologize for Wittgenstein's contradictory self-centeredness. Monk does an admirable job of providing the cultural context outside of which characters like Wittgenstein or Russell are hard for Americans to understand. I found reading this biography is helping me read Wittgenstein's 'remarks' on psychology and other topics. Ray Monk's book on Wittgenstein is an excellent introduction to Wittgenstein and his thinking. No man is a single role he is an aggregate, a kaleidoscope, and one must appreciate the spectrum. It shows that behind every great mind, there is a man. 'The Duty of Genius' humanizes the great philosopher. Fundamentally, he struggled with his identity and this informed his philosophy. something well-illustrated in Wittgenstein (Special Edition) by the late Derek Jarman. Augustine and Tolstoy were his favorite authors) He struggled with his homosexuality. He struggled with being Jewish, he struggled with Christianity (St. He fought in WWI, and wrote Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus while imprisoned at Monte Cassino. He advised his boyfriends against taking up philosophy as a profession. Wittgenstein was at once a mystic and ordinary man. What was Wittgenstein to do? Two of his brothers also committed suicide, so there is a tragic sensibility. His sister was immortalized in a painting by Gustav Klimt. Brahms played piano for them one of his brothers lost an arm in war and had concertos composed for him. Wittgenstein came from a wealthy, talented Austrian family. 'Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius' is a fascinating biography of the philosopher as a deeply conflicted human being.

Portrait of the Philosopher as a Young Man

Ludwig wittgenstein the duty of genius