Fragen der Ethik [THE SOLE KNOWN PHILOSOPHICAL WORK ANNOTATED BY WITTGENSTEIN]

WITTGENSTEIN, Ludwig (1889-1951) - his copy [SCHLICK, Moritz (1882-1936]

Edité par Julius Springer, Berlin, 1930

WITTGENSTEIN?S COPY OF MORITZ SCHLICK?S BOOK ON ETHICS, WITH ANNOTATIONS THAT REVEAL A PROFOUND SHIFT IN HIS PHILOSOPHY; THE ONLY KNOWN EXAMPLE OF WITTGENSTEIN?S MARGINALIA IN A PHILOSOPHICAL WORK

8vo; pp. 152, vi, [2, ads].

A highly significant association copy: Moritz Schlick's book on ethics and logical positivism, annotated by his friend Ludwig Wittgenstein.

The book was sent by Schlick to Wittgenstein at Trinity College, Cambridge, in the autumn of 1930. Wittgenstein read the book, making his marginal notes, before writing to Schlick in November 1930, warning him "I think I won?t agree with you on a lot of things". In December of that year Wittgenstein travelled to Vienna to discuss philosophy with Schlick and Friedrich Waismann. These conversations were recorded, and we know that Wittgenstein repeated some of the comments he had made in the margins.

Most strikingly, Wittgenstein writes "Das ist die tiefe Fassung!" next to Schlick?s statement of Plato's famous 'Euthyphro Dillema'. With these five words - 'That is the deeper formulation!' - Wittgenstein sets himself against Socrates, against Schlick and the Vienna Circle, and against traditional metaphysics. The 'deeper formulation' referred to is simply 'What God commands, that is good'. This, Wittgenstein told Schlick shortly after receiving the book, "cuts off the way to any explanation 'why' it is good", and rules out any 'theory' of ethics at all.

Elsewhere Wittgenstein marks the margins and underlines, and makes an extended comment at the end of the book. The latter has never been published or publicly analysed, though it is discussed by Rush Rhees in a typescript offered with the present book. Rhees was almost certainly the first owner of the book after Wittgenstein (see provenance note below).

In 1926 Wittgenstein had stopped teaching and returned to Vienna. There he had been coaxed back to philosophy by Schlick - the unofficial leader of the 'Vienna Circle' of logical positivsts. Schlick and Wittgenstein developed a respectful relationship ("Each of us thought the other must be mad", Wittgenstein told his friend Paul Engelmann), and soon Wittgenstein was invited to informal meetings of the Vienna Circle. Although Wittgenstein increasingly set himself against the strictly analytical position of the Circle, this was a decisive period for him: in 1929 he returned to Cambridge, and, in the fullest sense, to philosophy.

Philosophical material in Wittgenstein?s hand is notoriously scarce: we can find no other evidence a philosophical book annotated by Wittgenstein. Very few letters to have been offered for sale have contained philosophical writing.

'Fragen der Ethik', published in English translation in 1939 as 'Problems of Ethics', is, in its own right, an important work by a philosopher whose career was tragically cut short when he was murdered by a former student in June 1936. Aside from his as leadership of the Vienna Circle, and his role in bringing Wittgenstein out of the wilderness, Schlick's own ideas are undergoing a revaluation. He was an early philosophical interpreter of Einstein (who admired and corresponded with Schlick), and has been situated on the 'right wing' or 'cultural' side of logical positivism. This is one of the very few works from the Vienna Circle to deal in any way with ethical questions.

Provenance: Rush Rhees, Wittgenstein's friend, pupil and literary executor. Included is a short typescript by Rhees (in German), concerning the book and Wittgenstein's annotations.

Condition: Fair condition: covers worn, spine chipped at top and bottom; front hinge loose; title page adhered to front cover and somewhat torn, otherwise internally very good, noting only Wittgenstein's marginalia; housed in a custom made cloth case with gilt spine label. N° de réf. du vendeur 2511217501

Détails bibliographiques

Titre : Fragen der Ethik [THE SOLE KNOWN ...
Éditeur : Julius Springer, Berlin
Date d'édition : 1930
Reliure : Couverture souple
Etat : Moyen
Edition : Edition originale