Wittgenstein's Lectures. Cambridge, 1932-1935. From the Notes of Alice Ambrose and Margaret Macdonald. Edited by Alice Ambrose; [together with] 1930-1932. From the Notes of John King and Desmond Lee. Edited by Desmond Lee.

WITTGENSTEIN, Ludwig.

Published by Totowa: Rowman and Littlefield, 1979 & 1980

About this Item

First US editions of these lecture notes by some of Wittgenstein's most distinguished students. "It was through these pupils that Wittgenstein's new ideas were transmitted" (ODNB). They were published simultaneously in the UK by Basil Blackwell, Oxford. "Wittgenstein's classes at Cambridge became legendary. They were typically held in his rooms in Whewell's Court, Trinity College, or in the rooms of a friend, and lasted for two hours. He spoke without notes, thinking on his feet with intense concentration. Questions were invited, and his classes often consisted of dialogue. His discourses, like his writings, were illustrated with a wealth of vivid imaginary examples, wonderful metaphors and similes. His themes throughout the 1930s ranged over philosophy and its nature, the philosophy of logic and language, the intentionality of thought and language, the critique of metaphysics, solipsism and idealism, the philosophy of mathematics, and, later in the decade, sense data and private experience, cause and effect, aesthetics, religious belief, and Freudian psychology" (ODNB). Alice Ambrose (1906-2001) worked chiefly on logic and mathematical philosophy and was one of the few students to whom Wittgenstein dictated his "Blue" and "Brown" books. The ideas traced in these formed the basis of his later philosophy as expressed in Philosophical Investigations (1953). Margaret MacDonald (1903-1956) worked in the fields of the philosophy of language, political philosophy, and aesthetics, alongside lecturing on ethics to Home Office staff. Desmond Lee (1908-1993) specialized in ancient philosophy. Frongia & McGuiness, p. 46. Two works, octavo. Diagrams within text. Original blue or green cloth, spines lettered in gilt. With photographic dust jackets. Extremities of second work rubbed; jackets unclipped, production flaw to first work resulting in misaligned spine panel, short closed tear to front panel of second work: near-fine copies in very good jackets.

Seller Inventory # 181226

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Wittgenstein's Lectures. Cambridge, 1932-1935. From the Notes of Alice Ambrose and Margaret Macdonald. Edited by Alice Ambrose; [together with] 1930-1932. From the Notes of John King and Desmond Lee. Edited by Desmond Lee.
• Publisher: Totowa: Rowman and Littlefield, 1979 & 1980
• Edition: 1st Edition