Culture and Value (Paperback)

~ (Author), Peter Winch (Translator)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Peter Winch's translation of Wittgenstein's remarks on culture and value presents all entries chronologically, with the German text alongside the English and a subject index for reference.

"It was Wittgenstein's habit to record his thoughts in sequences of more or less closely related 'remarks' which he kept in notebooks throughout his life. The editor of this collection has gone through these notebooks in order to select those 'remarks' which deal with Wittgenstein's views abou the less technical issues in his philosophy. So here we have Wittgenstein's thoughts about religion, music, architecture, the nature of philosophy, the spirit of our times, genius, being Jewish, and so on. The work is a masterpiece by a mastermind."—Leonard Linsky

Language Notes

Text: English, German (translation)
Original Language: German --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 195 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (May 15, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226904350
• ISBN-13: 978-0226904351
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #40,519 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Why is this still in print?, July 12, 2005

By	James Klagge "jck1954" (Blacksburg, Virginia USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book was published in 1980. In 1998 the editors and translator produced a beautiful new edition providing more context for the passages and an improved translation. It was published by Blackwell in the UK (ISBN 0631205713), but has still not been released in the US. Why? If you are really interested in Wittgenstein you should search that ISBN on Amazon, because there are occasionally used copies that you can order (at a premium) from abroad.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant overview of the man's concerns..., August 23, 2005

By	C. Middleton (Australia) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This collection of Wittgenstein's "remarks" written over a time period of forty years was first published as "Vermischte Bemerkungen" in the original German in 1977. These remarks are taken from his private manuscripts and diaries, which were finally translated into English in 1980.

As a vast majority of Wittgenstein's manuscripts or notebooks were written with no intent by the author for publication, it makes one wonder how the philosopher would feel about this book. He comments on a vast array of subjects from architecture, Shakespeare and music. And, of course, his philosophical musings, some remarks actually taken from his famous text, Philosophical Investigations.

It would be helpful if the reader had some previous knowledge of Wittgenstein's work and life before embarking on this text, however, I don't believe it to be absolutely essential. Surprisingly, numerous remarks throughout the text can stand alone on their own merit without contextualization. On the other hand, these remarks can also contribute to a greater understanding of Wittgenstein's philosophy, thus, in the end, Culture and Value is an excellent addition to the Wittgenstein Corpus.

I've come to understand that reading Wittgenstein is about a process of thought, a new method of thinking about our language and the world. Wittgenstein is not about a theory of reality but a process of thinking, asking different questions, never taking anything for granted, always pushing against conventional wisdom, pushing thought to its limits. At times these "aphorisms" can communicate as nonsense, ephemeral, disconnected, etc, but reading them slowly, immersing oneself into them, can produce some interesting results.

One of my favourite aphorisms: "Nothing is so difficult as not deceiving oneself."

Or one of his descriptions of genius: "There is no more light in a genius than in any other honest man - but he has a particular kind of lens to concentrate this light into a burning point."

Reading Wittgenstein's remarks gives us a point of entry into his essential concerns as a philosopher and a human being. In fact the last remarks were written in 1951, the year of his death.

Culture and Value is that type of philosophical text that can be picked up occasionally over many years and one will continue to find stimulus for thought.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An invasion of a great thinker's privacy?, April 28, 2003

By	Stuart W. Mirsky "swm" (New York, USA) - See all my reviews

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Not a "work of philosophy" but, rather, a compilation of his more personal and/or less philosophical personal jottings from 1914 to the end of his life in 1951, this little book is worth taking up if you are fascinated by Wittgenstein and his thought. However, it will disappoint anyone coming to it for a detailed analysis of many of those issues (religion, art, morality) that his major works do not delve into more extensively. All we are offered here is an uneven scattering of personal remarks and truncated observations over the course of one very significant philosopher's life. Sometimes the remarks are extremely enlightening. More often they are too cryptic or personal or vague to offer much insight into the man and his ideas. Moreover, there are some musings here that are decidedly personal, making me uncomfortable just to be reading them. Peter Winch, who did the compilation, notes he excluded anything of too personal a nature but, given what got through, I can only conclude that the other stuff must have been doozies. Here we see Wittgenstein castigating himself as a sinner, unworthy to be saved, as he struggles to understand and re-subscribe to the Catholicism of his youth. While such information is of great interest to those of us who have been deeply affected by his philosophical work, throwing light on the driving forces which affected his thought, I was left feeling profoundly uncomfortable, reading things I suspect he never would have wanted to see the light of day. In the end, this book offered me more of a view into the man, Wittgenstein, than into his ideas about cultural issues . . . the reason I'd come to the book in the first place. And Wittgenstein seems a smaller man, and his ideas somewhat less substantial to me, for having read this book. Still, I'm not sorry I did. Better to understand a man than be awed by a giant. -- SWM