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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 192
EAN num: 9780872200081
ISBN number: 0872200086
Label: Hackett Publishing Company
Manufacturer: Hackett Publishing Company
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 78
Printing Date: 1986-07
Publishing house: Hackett Publishing Company
Sale Popularity Level: 662410
Studio: Hackett Publishing Company
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Oets Kolk Bouwsma was a Dutch-American philosopher who met Wittgenstein during his visit to the U.S. in 1949. Norman Malcolm introduced the two philosophers and during the following months the two men had numerous philosophical discussions while on casual walks and at Malcolm's home. At Cornell University, these discussions were either formal or informal, revealing, to a large extent, intensity of thought, and immediacy and pending danger that is so characteristic of Wittgenstein's personality. These discussions influenced Bouwsma to a great degree in terms of his work habits and approach to philosophy in general.
Although short in length, these discussions reveal a mature Wittgenstein, a man at the end of his life that had not lost any of his concentration nor passion for life. Wittgenstein discusses many topics from ethics, language, Dostoevsky, Frege, Russell, Descartes, Kierkegaard, religious truth, faith, and Plato. Bouwsma and Wittgenstein would commence on one of their walks and Wittgenstein would ask Bouwsma to choose a topic for discussion, and without anytime for reflection, Wittgenstein would charge directly to the heart of the subject, stopping in mid-step to make a relevant point, gesticulating in the air while observing his audience of one to ensure his student was comprehending his words. Reading these short "notes" one can imagine and almost feel the power and concentration of the discussions.
Despite being very sick, Wittgenstein continued to be almost fanatical about cleanliness, vigorously scrubbing himself for a good hour on a daily basis. Miss Anscombe, one of the philosopher's literary executors, told Bouwsma that Wittgenstein was known back in the Cambridge days to heat several buckets of water for his daily baths. She also said that during the war, he once returned the money Cambridge paid him for his lectures: Wittgenstein said, "The lectures were no good, not worth the money". But as Anscombe said, "They were, of course, better than any others given." It is this kind of little story that makes biography a worthwhile reading experience, illustrating a lot about the character of the man in just a few words.
Years later, Bouswma typed these "notes" and decided to send them to Wittgenstein's nephew in Vienna, Thomas Stonborough. After reading them he immediately wrote a letter to Bouswma stating that (it) was "The best thing written on him I know of."
One of the things that intrigued Thomas Stonborough was why Wittgenstein had such an interest in Bouswma, as this was unusual for the philosopher to let an acquaintance into his life. All the philosopher could come up with was his honesty and love of philosophy. This honesty and irrefutable love of philosophy certainly comes through in the writing. A memoir worth reading and owning.
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