Popper v. Wittgenstein
The current New Yorker includes an interesting (and personal) review of a book I read a couple of weeks ago. The book is Wittgenstein's Poker: The Story of a Ten-Minute Argument Between Two Great Philosophers, by David Edmonds and John Eidinow. The review is by Adam Gopnik, a New Yorker regular, whose recent book Paris to the Moon is on my wish list.
"Poker" looks at the lives and careers of Karl Popper and Ludwig Wittgenstein, two undeniably "great" 20th Century philosophers whose only encounter was at a meeting in Cambridge, England in 1947. There's no disputing the fact that the two engaged in a short verbal tussle. In contention is whether Wittgenstein threatened Popper with a poker from the meeting room's fireplace, and whether Popper answered a question about moral precepts with the example of "not threatening visiting lecturers with pokers" (at all, or before Wittgenstein stormed from the room).
Gopnik visited Popper late in the philosopher's life and recounts his first-hand experience with his erstwhile "hero."
"Poker" is an interesting read and a wonderful book--when I bought it, the sales person remarked on the form factor (small, but thick) of the book itself. The main thing I took away from it is how fortunate I am a) not to have been Popper or Wittgenstein, both of whom in spite of acclaim and success had unhappy lives, and b) not to have been a student or colleague of either of them; in addition to being unhappy, they were not too pleasant to be around much of the time, it appears.
BookTV (C-SPAN2) broadcast a "book event" (a short talk by author Edmonds) in late February that I recommend. Previously broadcast shows occasionally reappear on BookTV, but their schedule doesn't seem to show any upcoming re-broadcasts of this "event."
10:21:06 AM 
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