« language and silence | Main | a loner who seldom speaks »
May 5, 2007
russell on wittgenstein
He was perhaps the most perfect example I have ever known of genius as traditionally conceived, passionate, profound, intense, and dominating. He had a kind of purity which I have never known equaled except by G.E Moore. I remember taking him once to a meeting of the Aristotelian Society, at which there were various fools whom I treated politely. When we came away he raged and stormed against my immoral degradation in not telling these men what fools they were. His life was turbulent and troubled, and his personal force was extraordinary.
He used to come to see me every evening at midnight, and pace up and down the room like a wild beast for three hours in agitated silence. Once I said to him: “Are you thinking about logic, or about your sins?” “Both”, he replied, and continued his pacing. I did not like to suggest it was time for bed, for it seemed probable both to him and to me that on leaving me he would commit suicide.
At the end of his first term at Trinity, he came to me and said: “Do you think I am an absolute idiot?” I said: “Why do you want to know?” He replied: “Because if I am I shall become an aeronaut, but if I’m not I shall become a philosopher.” I said to him: “My dear fellow, I don’t know whether you are an absolute idiot or not, but if you will write me an essay during the vacation upon any philosophical topic that interests you, I will read it and tell you.” He did so, and brought it to me at the beginning of the next term. As soon as I read the first sentence, I became persuaded that he was a man of genius, and assured him that he should on no account become an aeronaut.
Bertrand Russell
Posted by amin at May 5, 2007 3:35 PM