In Our Time

Wittgenstein


Listen Later

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life, work and legacy of Ludwig Wittgenstein. There is little doubt that he was a towering figure of the twentieth century; on his return to Cambridge in 1929 Maynard Keynes wrote, “Well, God has arrived. I met him on the 5:15 train”.Wittgenstein is credited with being the greatest philosopher of the modern age, a thinker who left not one but two philosophies for his descendents to argue over: The early Wittgenstein said, “the limits of my mind mean the limits of my world”; the later Wittgenstein replied, “If God looked into our minds he would not have been able to see there whom we were speaking of”. Language was at the heart of both. Wittgenstein stated that his purpose was to finally free humanity from the pointless and neurotic philosophical questing that plagues us all. As he put it, “To show the fly the way out of the fly bottle”.How did he think language could solve all the problems of philosophy? How have his ideas influenced contemporary culture? And could his thought ever achieve the release for us that he hoped it would?With Ray Monk, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southampton and author of Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius; Barry Smith, Lecturer in Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London; Marie McGinn, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of York.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

In Our TimeBy BBC Radio 4

  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6

4.6

5,109 ratings


More shows like In Our Time

View all
Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,639 Listeners

The LRB Podcast by The London Review of Books

The LRB Podcast

301 Listeners

Business Daily by BBC World Service

Business Daily

519 Listeners

Newshour by BBC World Service

Newshour

1,046 Listeners

World Business Report by BBC World Service

World Business Report

293 Listeners

HistoryExtra podcast by Immediate

HistoryExtra podcast

3,223 Listeners

In Our Time: History by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: History

1,878 Listeners

In Our Time: Philosophy by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Philosophy

870 Listeners

In Our Time: Culture by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Culture

604 Listeners

In Our Time: Science by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Science

720 Listeners

In Our Time: Religion by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Religion

283 Listeners

Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4 by BBC Radio 4

Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4

2,110 Listeners

Great Lives by BBC Radio 4

Great Lives

488 Listeners

Dan Snow's History Hit by History Hit

Dan Snow's History Hit

4,785 Listeners

The Life Scientific by BBC Radio 4

The Life Scientific

217 Listeners

Evil Genius with Russell Kane by BBC Radio 4

Evil Genius with Russell Kane

360 Listeners

Have You Heard George's Podcast? by BBC Sounds

Have You Heard George's Podcast?

233 Listeners

Elis James and John Robins by Significant Productions

Elis James and John Robins

307 Listeners

You're Dead to Me by BBC Radio 4

You're Dead to Me

3,177 Listeners

The Ancients by History Hit

The Ancients

3,370 Listeners

The Rest Is History by Goalhanger

The Rest Is History

15,592 Listeners

Gone Medieval by History Hit

Gone Medieval

1,895 Listeners

Sport's Strangest Crimes by BBC Radio 5 Live

Sport's Strangest Crimes

65 Listeners

Uncanny by BBC Radio 4

Uncanny

814 Listeners

Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley by BBC Radio 4

Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley

555 Listeners

Empire: World History by Goalhanger

Empire: World History

2,409 Listeners

Past Present Future by David Runciman

Past Present Future

328 Listeners

Believe in Magic by BBC Studios

Believe in Magic

643 Listeners

The Global Story by BBC World Service

The Global Story

386 Listeners

Miss Me? by Persephonica

Miss Me?

239 Listeners

The History Podcast by BBC Radio 4

The History Podcast

56 Listeners

Rory Stewart: The Long History of... by BBC Radio 4

Rory Stewart: The Long History of...

75 Listeners

The History Bureau by BBC

The History Bureau

74 Listeners