Ludwig Wittgenstein gilt als der Sprachphilosoph. Mit dem 'Tractatus logico-philosophicus' und den 'Philosophischen Untersuchungen' hat er die entscheidenden Texte verfasst, die den linguistic turn der modernen Philosophie begründen. Dass sich die beiden Ansätze eklatant widersprechen, ist oft bemerkt und diskutiert worden. Nicht aber, dass Wittgenstein in dieser systemimmanenten Konkurrenz mehr als ein innerphilosophisches Problem verhandelt. Tatsächlich muss man seine philosophische Entwicklung auch als eine Auseinandersetzung mit seiner eigenen Lebensgeschichte begreifen. Dabei spielt eine wichtige Rolle, dass Wittgenstein erst mit vier Jahren (...) zu sprechen begann und offenkundig eine autistische Kindheitsperiode durchlief, die sich später zum Bild einer postautistischen Persönlichkeit entwickelte. Seine teilweise bizarren Verhaltensweisen sind oft genug 'anekdotisch' berichtet worden. Eine verständliche Vorsicht gegenüber 'psychologischen' Ableitungen hat dazu geführt, dass die Spuren, die auf einen engen Zusammenhang zwischen seinem lebensgeschichtlichen Schicksal und seinem Denken verweisen, nicht verfolgt wurden. Tatsächlich erschliesst sich seine Philosophie in neuer und überraschender Weise, wenn man sie als lebensgeschichtliche Selbstreflexion versteht. (shrink)

This book sheds light on Grant's early intellectual interests, the centrality of his pacifism, his struggle to educate himself as a philosopher (he studied history at Queen's University and law at Oxford), his ambivalent relationship to organized religion, his quarrels with York and McMaster Universities, and his attitude to John Diefenbaker.

Every student of the twentieth century has heard both of the great Viennese economist Friedrich von Hayek and of the equally great philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. But what isn't well known is that the two were distant cousins and that, shortly after Wittgenstein's death in 1951, Hayek set out to write a biography of his cousin. The project was derailed by Wittgenstein family members, who felt it was to soon to publish such a work - especially one like Hayek's, so (...) candid about his cousin's difficulties and depressions. But Hayek's draft acquired an underground readership, and Wittgensteins biographers have used it extensively. Here finally, is the text of that work itself - a true goldmine in being one great thinker's view of another, whom he knew personally, even if not well. Hayek's account has the great merit of being close to its subject; the draft, moreover sheds light, not only on Wittgenstein but on Hayek as well. (shrink)

Abstract“The singular state of the ice”. The Cartographic Knowledge of the Whaler William Scoresby. The English whaler William Scoresby, Jr. (1790–1857) made use of his annual voyages to the Greenland Sea for distinguished scientific work, detailed records and the production of amazing maps. Due to his intensive contacts to scientists as Robert Jameson and politicians as Joseph Banks and John Barrow his research achieved a great deal of attention and set a benchmark for at least half a century. Scoresby combined (...) the adventurous world of Arctic fishery with academic sciences. He attained the northernmost point anybody reached in his time, he extended the cartographic knowledge and forced the conquest and utilisation of the oceans for commercial fishing. But his biography enquires also about who got an opportunity for research and for what. Especially it demonstrates the strong impact practical knowledge of a whaler could have on geographic research and Arctic cartography. (shrink)

Machiavélique. Un frisson saisit l'assistance, qui espère quelque diablerie. Jamais épithète n'a été utilisée plus à contresens du nom dont elle dérive... "...Quand Christian Soleil m'a proposé de préfacer Sur les traces de Machiavel, j'ai accepté très volontiers, car le sujet, dans le monde tourneboulé d'aujourd'hui, est d'une actualité brûlante et l'écriture, comme toujours, jaillissante et dense. Me voilà donc en situation de commenter le bras de fer entre un personnage de légende, difficile à débusquer de son trou et (...) plus difficile encore à confesser, et son poursuivant, notre auteur, l'œil pétillant, la plume déliée......"De l'embarras de démêler le vrai de l'apparence et le bonheur des peuples de l'asservissement". Il ne s'agit pas d'un inédit soudain découvert de l'auteur des Discours, seulement des interrogations du lecteur au sortir d'un tête-à-tête avec Machiavel, dont Christian Soleil, avec une maîtrise éprouvée, a été l'animateur inspiré et diligent. La rencontre a-t-elle été fructueuse? Il me semble. Le compte-rendu de celle-ci, sous la forme d'une biographie commentée, répond à une curiosité conséquente à un long pèlerinage en milieu trouble, non en la satisfaisant, mais en l'excitant davantage. Car il est dans le rôle de l'écrivain de susciter des interrogations et des résistances plutôt que de livrer un produit à consommer en l'état. Naviguant sur un fleuve dont les eaux tumultueuses sont semées d'écueils, Christian Soleil a écrit un livre qui marquera à la fois par une recherche poussée et méthodique, une construction intellectuelle très élaborée, une langue familière et noble. Concernant la vraie nature de son héros, le doute subsiste. Et c'est bien ainsi... " Michel Durafour. (shrink)

Jean-Marc Rohrbasser propose une version française de la biographie post mortem de Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) rédigée par le philosophe allemand Christian Wolff (1679-1754), et originellement publiée dans les Actes des Savants (Acta Eruditorum) de juillet 1717. Cette version française a été établie à partir de la traduction allemande que l'on trouve dans le volume 21 des Oeuvres complètes de Wolff.

This popular introductory text provides a unique set of teaching tools for instructors who prefer a synoptic approach. The text is visually appealing and reader friendly. The author accents his accessible writing with cartoons, quotations, and related findings from the social and physical sciences, reinforcing his conception of philosophy as the individual's attempt to unify disparate world views. The style of writing makes central philosophical concepts readily engaging to students. Interspersed biographies give the student a feeling for the lives of (...) the great thinkers who have fashioned the Western philosophical tradition and have determined largely how we think today. Above all, this text nurtures the analytical skills students will need to critically engage the "big picture" of Western philosophy for themselves. (shrink)

The paper begins by delimiting the scope of ‘logic’ and ‘philosophy of science’ and goes on to present the biographies and select bibliographies of 36 émigré scholars from Germany and Austria working in these fields. An evaluation of this material, and of data on societies, congresses, lecture series, books and periodicals on logic and philosophy of science, is then undertaken. Against the rich background of activity in the 20s and 30s of our century, there is manifest a rapid decline of (...) high-ranking research in the philosophy of science and in logic in Germany and Austria. Since, with one exception, émigré logicians and philosophers of science did not return after the breakdown of the Third Reich, recovery in these fields has been extremely slow. Pertinent knowledge had to be re-imported, and a satisfactory level has been reached only with the coming of a new generation. (shrink)

This first chapter provides a suitable introduction to the volume by drawing a vivid picture of Proclus’ life: his provenance, his education, and his direction of the fifth-century school of Athens. Rather than rehearsing the well-known ‘facts’ of Proclus’ life, the author revises the received portrait of the philosopher by drawing attention to little noted patterns and details in Proclus’ biography. Behind the rhetoric of Marinus’ Life of Proclus, he discovers the portrait of a complex and intriguing human figure: (...) the greatest philosopher of the fifth century and convinced advocate of pagan culture turns out to be a man with startling pretensions and lofty ambitions. By thus depicting the life at the fifth-century school of Athens, the author also sheds light on the practice of pagan culture in the fifth century by some of the leading intellectuals of the time. (shrink)