Wittgenstein, ohyes
Today is the anniversary of Ludwig Wittgenstein's death (1889 - 1951). Cheerful, I know. So, you know what we need in here? WITTGENSPAM HOYES.
So. This is Baby Wittgenstein. His parents apparantly saw pictures of Baby Oscar Wilde and thought 'Aww, that's so cute! Let's dress our youngest son like a girl too!'
In between this and the next photo, Wittgenstein grows up in Vienna, goes to the Linzer Realschule with Hitler (seriously, not kidding, they were in the same class), studies engineering at Manchester, fights in WWI for Austria, writes the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, and moves to study at Cambridge with Bertrand Russell.
This is Wittgenstein in Cambridge sometime in the 30s with his boyfriend, Francis Skinner. Lots of Wittgenstein scholars are prone to going OMFFSM THEY WERE JUST GOOD FRIENDS WTF POLARBEAR, but Wittgenstein recorded in his diary that they slept together several times when on holiday in Norway, but he felt like crap about it afterwards and treated Skinner really badly as a result. Ludwig Wittgenstein: brilliant philosopher, rubbish boyfriend.*
Francis Skinner was, by all accounts, pretty unhealthily devoted to/obsessed by Wittgenstein, although they grew apart during the 1930s. Francis died of polio on Friday October 11th 1941: in Wittgenstein's pocket diary, he simply wrote 'Francis died.' I would pay good hard money to know what he was thinking as he wrote that.
This is Wittgenstein with the last great unrequited love of his life, a medical student called Ben Richards**. If you squint, it looks like they're holding hands.
Richards took this photo one day in Swansea in 1946.
And this is one that Wittgenstein took of Richards, proving that while he may have been a brilliant philosopher-linguist-mathematician-logical empiricist-architect-engineer, he sucked at photography.
* as said by the man himself: "I have been sensual, susceptible, indecent with [Skinner]; lay with him two or three times, always at first with the feeling that there was nothing wrong in it, then with shame. Have also been unjust, edgy and insincere towards him, and also cruel." Oh, Ludwig. ;_;
** Wittgenstein on Ben Richards: "B. has a thing for me. Something which can't last...whether it will work out...I do not know, nor whether I can endure this pain. Demons have woven these bonds and hold it in their hands. They can break them or they can let them survive."
[Edmonds and Eidinow, in Wittgenstein's Poker, claim that this was unlikely, that Richards was TOTALLY STRAIGHT OMG LOOK HE MARRIED A GIRL OF THE FEMALE PERSUASION, and that Wittgenstein was imagining things. To which I say: bah. I shall let Wittgenstein speak for himself, since he, y'know, knew Richards and had a better handle on their relationship than E&E ever could.]
All pictures are from the wonderful www.wittgenstein.godorok.net/pictures.htm . If you click on them, they get bigger. Enjoy.
So. This is Baby Wittgenstein. His parents apparantly saw pictures of Baby Oscar Wilde and thought 'Aww, that's so cute! Let's dress our youngest son like a girl too!'
In between this and the next photo, Wittgenstein grows up in Vienna, goes to the Linzer Realschule with Hitler (seriously, not kidding, they were in the same class), studies engineering at Manchester, fights in WWI for Austria, writes the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, and moves to study at Cambridge with Bertrand Russell.
This is Wittgenstein in Cambridge sometime in the 30s with his boyfriend, Francis Skinner. Lots of Wittgenstein scholars are prone to going OMFFSM THEY WERE JUST GOOD FRIENDS WTF POLARBEAR, but Wittgenstein recorded in his diary that they slept together several times when on holiday in Norway, but he felt like crap about it afterwards and treated Skinner really badly as a result. Ludwig Wittgenstein: brilliant philosopher, rubbish boyfriend.*
Francis Skinner was, by all accounts, pretty unhealthily devoted to/obsessed by Wittgenstein, although they grew apart during the 1930s. Francis died of polio on Friday October 11th 1941: in Wittgenstein's pocket diary, he simply wrote 'Francis died.' I would pay good hard money to know what he was thinking as he wrote that.
This is Wittgenstein with the last great unrequited love of his life, a medical student called Ben Richards**. If you squint, it looks like they're holding hands.
Richards took this photo one day in Swansea in 1946.
And this is one that Wittgenstein took of Richards, proving that while he may have been a brilliant philosopher-linguist-mathematician-logical empiricist-architect-engineer, he sucked at photography.
* as said by the man himself: "I have been sensual, susceptible, indecent with [Skinner]; lay with him two or three times, always at first with the feeling that there was nothing wrong in it, then with shame. Have also been unjust, edgy and insincere towards him, and also cruel." Oh, Ludwig. ;_;
** Wittgenstein on Ben Richards: "B. has a thing for me. Something which can't last...whether it will work out...I do not know, nor whether I can endure this pain. Demons have woven these bonds and hold it in their hands. They can break them or they can let them survive."
[Edmonds and Eidinow, in Wittgenstein's Poker, claim that this was unlikely, that Richards was TOTALLY STRAIGHT OMG LOOK HE MARRIED A GIRL OF THE FEMALE PERSUASION, and that Wittgenstein was imagining things. To which I say: bah. I shall let Wittgenstein speak for himself, since he, y'know, knew Richards and had a better handle on their relationship than E&E ever could.]
All pictures are from the wonderful www.wittgenstein.godorok.net/pictures.htm . If you click on them, they get bigger. Enjoy.