Wittgenstein's poker : the story of a ten-minute argument between two great philosophers / David Edmonds and John Eidinow.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Edmonds, David, 1964-

Contributor:

Eidinow, John.

Gotham Book Mart Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

The Library of Chaim Potok (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 1889-1951.

Popper, Karl R. (Karl Raimund), 1902-1994.

Philosophers, Modern--20th century.

Philosophers, Modern.

Genre:

Biographies.

Penn Provenance:

Gotham Book Mart (former owner) (Gotham Book Mart Collection copy)

Potok, Adena (donor) (Potok Collection copy)

Physical Description:

x pages, 2 unnumbered pages, 340 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 19 cm

Edition:

[First edition].

Place of Publication:

[New York] : Ecco an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2001]

Summary:

On October 25, 1946, in a crowded room in Cambridge, England, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Karl Popper came face-to-face for the first and only time. The encounter lasted just ten minutes, and did not go well. Their loud and aggressive confrontation became the stuff of instant legend. Almost immediately, rumors spread around the world that the two great philosophers had come to blows, armed with red-hot pokers. Twenty years later, when Popper wrote an account of the incident, he portrayed himself as the victor, provoking intense disagreement. Everyone present seems to have remembered events differently.

What really happened in those ten minutes? And what does the violence of this brief exchange tell us about these two men, modern philosophy, and the significance of language in solving our philosophical problems? Wittgenstein's Poker is an engaging mix of philosophy, history, biography, and literary detection. David Edmonds and John Eidinow evoke with dazzling clarity the tumult of fin-de-siecle Vienna, Wittgenstein's and Popper's birthplace; the tragedy of the Nazi takeover of Austria; and Cambridge University, with its eccentric set of philosophy dons, including Bertrand Russell, who acted as umpire at the meeting. At the center of the story stand the two philosophers themselves -- proud, irascible, larger-than-life -- and spoiling for a fight.

Contents:

The poker

Memories are made of this

Bewitchment

Disciples

The third man

The faculty

A Viennese whirl

The concerts in the palais

Once a Jew

Popper reads Mein Kampf

Some Jew!

Little Luki

Death in Vienna

Popper circles the circle

Blowtorch

Poor little rich boy 00 Trajectories of success

The problem with puzzles

The puzzle over problems

Slum landlords and pet aversions

Poker plus

Cleaning up the muddle

All shall have prizes.

Notes:

"Designed by Cassandra J. Pappas."

Includes bibliographical references (pages 317-327) and index.

Local Notes:

Gotham Book Mart Collection copy has dustjacket retained.

Potok Collection copy presented to the Penn Libraries by Adena Potok.

Potok Collection copy: dust jacket retained.

Potok Collection copy has [1] loose leaf with ms. annotations laid in.

ISBN:

0066212448

OCLC:

48988526