It's unfortunate that this biography ignores the content of the Tractatus, but more unfortunately it ignores all of the philisophical work W. did after his return from Austria. If there's no objection I'll try to add this information . --
MarkChristensen
Please do. Although I would prefer to restrict the biography to a description of his life and treat his work and ideas in separate sections. Probably even a separate section for the Tractatus and for the later Wittgenstein. Or maybe even in separate articles. How much time do you have? :-) --
Jan Hidders
I have some time, notes and papers, which could be adapted from a Wittgenstein class... I agree that the Tractatus, the Blue and Brown Books, and the Philosophical Investigations could (and should) all have their own entries, but I think no biography of a philosopher should fail to at least provide a gloss of their work, the way it progressed over time, and the effect it had on other philosophers. And of course there should be links to pages on all those subjects... --
MarkChristensen
I agree completely that these things should be discussed on this entry, but the question is if you want to merge them with the biography. Look for example at
http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/w/wittgens.htm where they also treat life and ideas separately but on the same page. That is what I would prefer although your approach is used by Britannica at
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=79363&tocid=0
The main reason that I would want the separate these things is the dynamic nature of Wikipedia, i.e., if somebody drops by and starts to add more details in the biography will this not bury the discussion of his ideas? Is the article not going to be too long for somebody who wants just a quick overview of his ideas? Or what if the discussion of his ideas is extended? Will that not interrupt the story line of his life too much?
Perhaps a good solution would be to give a (mixed) summary of his ideas and life on the main page, (not much longer than, say, a screen or two) and discuss them separately on subpages more extensively. You could have subpages on "Life", "Tractatus", "Philosophical investigations" et cetera or on subject as is done in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. As soon as these get big enough they could be moved to their own entry.
Anyway, I have to get back to work now and will be very busy the next two weeks, so it's all up to you now. I'm looking forward to your additions. -- Jan Hidders
I would be opposed to making the pages on Wittgenstein's life and individual works subpages of the Wittgenstein page, although less strongly in this case than in other cases. For one thing, if the contents of the article are ever transferred to the Nupedia Chalkboard, the subpages would have to be de-subpagized.
Definitely, discussion of W's life should be separated from that of his philosophy.
I made a few edits to the article. Note, the British Empiricists were all dead long before Wittgenstein; empiricism in the 20th century is generally referred to as just "empiricism" or (as propounded by the Vienna Circle) "logical empiricism." --LMS
I don't think that the biography should try to explain his work or ideas in depth, but there's an essential connection between W's ideas and his bio. W. was convinced that he the Tractatus was his final work, and even the last word on the subject of philosophy, and so his return to philosophy results primarily from his growing dissatisfaction with the Tractatus. Moreover, he probably would not have returned to philosophy if nobody was paying attention to what he called his "mistakes."
Certianly we should have pages for his major works, which explain his ideas, and seprate section of the main page which expresses a short summary of his ideas independantly of his bio, but the bio will at least have to make reference to his ideas, even if it doesn't try to explain those ideas. --Mark Christensen
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