Wittgenstein, Ludwig Josef Johann

(1889–1951)

   Philosopher.

   Wittgenstein was born in Vienna, Austria, and he was a student of engineering at the Universities of Berlin and Manchester. He served in the Austrian army in the First World War and he eventually settled in England. The only book which appeared in his lifetime was the Tractatus Logico Philosophicus, which attempted to define the limits of language and made the famous statement: ‘Whereof one cannot speak, thereon one must remain silent’. In 1939 he was appointed Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge where he became a hugely influential figure. After his death, his Philosophical Investigations was published. Although he had no personal connection with the Christian Church, many philosophical theologians make use of Wittgenstein’s notion of ‘language games’ in attempting to explain the nature and rules of religious discourse.

   J.W. Cook, Wittgenstein’s Metaphysics (1994);

   N. Malcolm, Wittgenstein: A Religious Point of View (1993);

   S. Teghrarian (ed.), Wittgenstein and Contemporary Philosophy (1994);

   F. Kerr, Theology After Wittgenstein (1986).