wittgenstein’s help

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My dog-eared copy of Philosophical Investigations still bears the scars of my 19-year-old student self. Among the underlinings and margin notes are the scribbled phone numbers of former girlfriends now, alas, forgotten: Lynda 2814749, Lucy 2854633, Soni 2845590. From the third year of university, this book was a constant companion. Part notepad, part diary, part address book, but wholly and life-changingly inspirational. Wittgenstein’s familiar, intense face peers through a coffee stain from the light green cover, bearing the look of a man ill at ease with the world, like some secular saint whose distance from the rest of humanity is both his gift and his curse. And yet, the photograph is so out of kilter with what I learned from the book itself. For the photograph invites a sense that there is something absolutely extraordinary going on inside Wittgenstein’s head, something unique, something tantalisingly beyond comprehension.

more from Giles Fraser at The Guardian here.