Wittgenstein's Vienna
Average Customer Rating:  
List Price:
$19.95
Austria Hotels Travel Price:
$13.57
Your Savings: $ 6.38 ( 32% )
Subject To Change Without Notice
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Ivan R. Dee, Publisher
|
|
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 943.613044
EAN: 9781566631327
ISBN: 1566631327
Label: Ivan R. Dee, Publisher
Manufacturer: Ivan R. Dee, Publisher
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 315
Publication Date: 1996-09-25
Publisher: Ivan R. Dee, Publisher
Studio: Ivan R. Dee, Publisher
|
|
|
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews:
|
The life and culture of Hapsburg, Vienna before World War I--the city of Freud, Schoenberg, Klimt, and Wittgenstein, whose philosophy announced the birth of the modern era.
|
|
|
Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating:
Summary: Kulturgeschichte of a remarkable cultural and intellectual watershed
Comment: This is a dazzlingly dense intellectual history of a time when there was an explosion of new ideas in both the arts and sciences. The place was Vienna, at the end of the Habsburg monarchy, where not only Sigmund Freud (psychlology) but also Loos (design), Schoenberg (music), Kochoscka (painting), and many others were establishing what we now call "modernism." It is also a philosophical tract of great depth, focusing on Wittgenstein. What is so remarkable is how commonplace their ideas and techniques have become in our everyday vocabulary - think "unconscious", but also "form follows function" - and how they all originated there, at the end of the 19C.
According to the authors, the starting point of the modernist movement is to be found in the deterioration of the Habsburg monarchy, spread as it was across a vast central european empire with dozens of languages and ethnic groups. To keep it all together in the face of rising nationalisms, the Habsburgs strove to maintain appearences of power and cohesion at all costs. This created a kind of living falsehood, in which issues were avoided by the use of code words and empty symbolic rituals.
Add to this the rise of new bourgeois fortunes, whereby a new middle classe arose based on industries. They too constructed their own private worlds within their homes, mimicing the Habsburgs and ignoring issues - in particular sexuality - to the point that it generated a latent hysteria in its women and anxiety in the working men, whose children despised them as fakes. Their houses were studded with overly ornate decorations, which were designed to ape the lifestyles of aristocrats, and they lived by elaborate codes of conduct and narrow career choices.
Obviously, this explains the biases in Freud's theories towards explaining too much by "suppressed impulses" buried in the unconscious (read hysterical women), but the authors argue that the great innovator of the age was Karl Krause, an independent satirist who called for honesty in language and the way one chose to live one's life. All of the others, they claim, were direct followers of Krause, from Klimt - he rebelled against the formalism of the royal academy of art with his Secessionist movement - to Wittgenstein and his study of language structure and meaning; even the great physicist Ernst Mach was apparently a follower of Krause, as was Canetti. They all knew eachother and were interested, and even participated, in eachothers' disciplines. This was a total surprise to me.
This is a fascinating intellectual tour (in the first 120 pages) that is evoked in dense prose that I had to read more than once to fully comprehend. I was particulary interested in their explanation of how Loos was attempting to strip away all ornament in an attempt to concentrate on the actual function of the buildings he designed as well as the household objects his followers created. This led directly to Bauhaus and all the other modernist schools of design, which exploited the new materials coming available, such as aluminum and tubular steel, to re-invent furniture, homes, and office spaces in ways that are still ripe for exploration today. I never understood the context in which this movement arose until I read this book.
The remaining 200 pages place Wittgenstein's philosphy in this context. To be honest, this interested me a lot less, but it is a must for students of modern philosophy. This is where the structure of language was explored, which led to the structuralists and to a degree the existentialists. It follows him to England, which comes in for heavy criticsm by the authors. In a way, this reads like a separate book.
Highly recommended. It is an intellectual adventure that is truly first rate.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An unforgettable book about an unforgettable time and place
Comment: As someone with a strong interest in modern philosophy as well as modern classical music, art and literature, I received more honest pleasure and enlightenment from reading this book than from any other book in recent memory. It is not per se a book about Wittgenstein, but rather an in-depth analysis of the milieu and mind-set of Vienna and its cultural elite circa 1900. Before immersing yourself into this delightful book, it might be a good idea to review the history of Austria-Hungary, how it came to be, the key events surrounding it, the emporer Franz Josef, and the territories which made up the dual monarchy. It also helps if you have some acquaintance with the German language, since German terms are used liberally throughout, often without denoting what those terms mean in English. Not being familiar with German, I found this mildly annoying, but certainly not enough to dampen my enthusiasm for this book.
Some of the most interesting sections of the book concern Viennese social philosophers and the artists whose works were a commentary on the corruption of the "gilded age": Otto Weininger, Kokoschka, Klimt, Schoenberg, Fritz Mauthner, and of course the unforgettable Karl Krauss. There is also a lengthy section on the scientific work of Mach and Hertz, the development of Hertz's "model" theory and its influence on Wittgenstein's Tractatus, as well as a beautifully written synopsis of Schopenhaur's philosophy.
And this is only the barest overview of a stupendously rich and rewarding book, one which all thoughtful people should and must read. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
Customer Rating:
Summary: THOUGHT AS AN HISTORICAL COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT
Comment: PHILOSOPHY...PHILO-SOPHIA...THE LOVE OF TRUTH IS MOST DIFFICULT WHERE THOUGHT IS CONCERNED. BUT WAIT A MINUTE, DO WE NOT USE THOUGHT TO EXPRESS WHAT WE FEEL TO BE TRUE..PROVIDE A REASON FOR FEELING SUCH? AHHHH. THE PROBLEM..'WE' USE 'THOUGHT'. IS THE 'WE' DIFFERENT THAN 'THOUGHT'..IS THERE A LITTLE MAN/WOMAN SOMEWHERE IN THE BRAIN USING THIS TOOL CALLED THOUGHT? QUESTION THE PROCESS! I FEEL THAT WITTGENSTEIN FOUND LANGUAGE, THOUGHT TOO LIMITED TO COME UPON TRUTH. VIENNA WAS A HOTBED OF IDEATION WITHIN WHICH A PERSON SUCH AS A 'WITTGENSTEIN' COULD SEE WHERE THOUGHT WAS AND WAS NOT VALID. A WONDERFUL BOOK
Customer Rating:
Summary: Intellectual history, for better or for worse
Comment: This book is an attempt to situate Wittgenstein, particularly the Wittgenstein of the Tractatus, in the context of the larger modern 20th century Viennese cultural milieux. It emphasizes the importance of language and communication, or the lack thereof, in fin-de-siecle Viennese politics and society, and relates the interactions and mutual influences of Viennese cultural critics such as Karl Kraus upon the positive philosophy of Wittgenstein and the Vienna Circle. It is not intended as an introduction to Wittenstein's thought and should not be read as such. This book is written for students of cultural and/or philosophical history who want a sense of the cultural origins of early modern positivism in philosophy.
Customer Rating:
Summary: intellectual history??
Comment: okay i've been trained both in sociology and philosophy and would say the book brings the poorest of both worlds.. never believed in intellectual history in general, but this kind of book, with its judgements about Kierkeggardian or Wittgensteinian 'individualism' as a 'natural pathology' of early twentieth century continental bourgeoise society, does nothing but buttress the self-complacency of our now liberal societies. Therefore despite some 'interesting' anectodes and impressions from Habsburg Vienna, the philosophical depth of the book doesnt go above our usual journalistic wisdom. I dont understand how other reviewers found this book brilliant or anything like that. I think recommendable as passtime only.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Austria Hotels Travel Books
Austria Hotels Travel DVD
Austria Hotels Travel Softwares
Austria Hotels Travel Magazines
Austria Related Sites
Austria Posters
Austria Art Prints
Austria Travel 2008 Calendars
2008 Monthly Calendars
Austria Hotels Travel Special Resources
Austria Arts
Austria Entertainment
Austria Business
Austria Culture
Austria Education
Austria Government
Austria Health
Austria Map
Sports & Recreation
Travel & Tourism
Austria Travel Destinations
Vienna, Austria
Wels, Austria
Rennweg, Austria
Salzburg, Austria
Linz, Austria
Ossiach, Austria
Innsbruck, Austria
Portschach, Austria
Graz, Austria
Lienz, Austria
Anthering, Austria
Bregenz, Austria
Imst, Austria
Kitzbuehel, Austria
Rankweil, Austria
St. Anton, Austria
Stockerau, Austria
Telfes, Austria
Kustein, Austria
Zurs am Arlberg
Bad Gastein, Austria
Eisenstadt, Austria
Wien, Austria
|
Austria Hotels Travel
Maintained by: Marketer Solutions | Link Building
