In this paper, I enrich the context of Wittgenstein's Tractatus given over a decade ago in my book Witttgenstein Flies A Kite (and related earlier works dating from 2000). I've since located a sketch reprinted from a 1914 Paris magazine showing a lawyer using a model bus and dolls to depict a traffic accident; I present it here along with a discussion of the modelmaker movement of that time. The modelmaker movement was a movement at the intersection of popular culture (...) and technical expertise that really needs to be understood and recognized in discussing Wittgenstein's use of Modell and Bild. I discuss its role in relation to experimental models used in scientific research. Other new aspects presented here include: the very special role of model-fl ying clubs (known in Germany as Modell-Flugverein); the use of scientific forensics in courts of law, really just beginning then (c. 1914), and a part of popular culture as well; the significance of more recent work by others on Boltzmann's personal interest in flight, and on the widespread but now-forgotten discussion of dimensional analysis in the history of physics. I conclude that all these lend support to the views on the Tractatus I laid out in my book, and summarize and elaborate on some of them here, inasmuch as space permits. More generally, I argue that the philosophical community interested in interpreting Wittgenstein's early works stands to gain from becoming better acquainted with the scientific and technological developments of the milieu in which they were conceived. (shrink)

'Reason, Causation and Compatibility with the Phenomena' strives to give answers to the philosophical problem of the interplay between realism, explanation and experience. This book is a compilation of essays that recollect significant conceptions of rival terms such as determinism and freedom, reason and appearance, power and knowledge. This title discusses the progress made in epistemology and natural philosophy, especially the steps that led from the ancient theory of atomism to the modern quantum theory, and from mathematization to analytic philosophy. (...) Moreover, it provides possible gateways from modern deadlocks of theory either through approaches to consciousness or through historical critique of intellectual authorities. This work will be of interest to those either researching or studying in colleges and universities, especially in the departments of philosophy, history of science, philosophy of science, philosophy of physics and quantum mechanics, history of ideas and culture. Greek and Latin Literature students and instructors may also find this book to be both a fascinating and valuable point of reference. (shrink)

Unnecessary Evil: History and Moral Progress in the Philosophy of Immanuel Kant, Sharon Ander son-Gold. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 2001, xiii +138 pp., $49.50, pb. $17.95. Knowledge and Reference in Empirical Science, Jody Azzouni. International Library of Philosophy. London/new York: Routledge, 2001, xi + 259 pp., $50.00. Philosophy of Science: Contemporary Readings, Yuri Balashov and Alex Rosenberg. Routledge Contemporary Readings in Philosophy. London/new York: Routledge, 2002, xiii + 522 pp. Of Myth, Life, and War in (...) Plato's Republic, Claudia Baracchi. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2002, ix + 249 pp., $49.95, pb. $24.95. Ethics in Context: The Art of Dealing with Serious Questions, Gernot Böhme. Trans. Edmund Jephcott. Cambridge: Polity, 2001, ix + 189 pp., £45.00, pb. £13.99. The Philosophical Theory of the State and Related Essays, Bernard Bosenquet. Ed. with intro. Gerald F. Gaus and William Sweet Key Texts. Classic Studies in the History of Ideas. South Bend, IN: St Augustine's Press, 2001, xxxvii +388 pp., pb. no price given. Belief and its Neutralization: Husserl's System of Phenomenology in Ideas I, Marcus Brainard. SUNY Series in Contemporary Continental Philosophy. Albany, NY: State University of New York, 2002, xvii + 331 pp., $86.50, pb. $29.95. The Nature of Research: Inquiry in Academic Contexts, Angela Brew. London/new York: Routledge, 2001, v + 205 pp., pb. £18.99. Critical Thinking: A Concise Guide, Tracy Bowell and Gary Kemp. London/new York: Routledge, 2002, x + 275 pp., No price given. Fodor: Language, Mind and Philosophy, M. J. Cain. Key Contemporary Thinkers. Oxford: Polity, 2002, ix + 240 pp., £50.00, pb. £14.00. The Religious, John D. Caputo. Blackwell Readings in Continental Philosophy. Oxford/maiden, MA: Blackwell, 2002, xiii + 322 pp., £55.00, pb. £16.99. 101 Philosophy Problems, Martin Cohen. 2nd ed. London/new York: Routledge, xviii + 229 pp., pb. £8.99. Hilary Putnam: Pragmatism and Realism, James Conant and Urszula M. Zeglen. Routledge Studies in Twentieth Century Philosophy. London/new York: 2002, xii + 242 pp., £50.00. Essay on the Origin of Human Knowledge, Etienne Bonnot de Condillac. Ed. and trans. Hans Aarsleff. Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001, xlv + 225 pp., $59.95, pb. $21.95. Theories of Democracy: A Critical Introduction, Frank Cunningham. Routledge Contemporary Political Philosophy. London/new York: Routledge, 2002, vi + 248 pp., pb. £13.99. Self-Identity and Personal Autonomy: An Analytical Anthropology, Stefaan E. Cuypers. Ashgate New Critical Thinking in Philosophy. Aldershot/burlington USA/singapore/ Sydney: Ashgate, 2001, ix + 172 pp., £37.50. Stream of Consciousness: Unity and Continuity in Conscious Experience, Barry Dainton. International Library of Philosophy. London/new York: Routledge, 2000, xvi + 254 pp. Kierkegaard After MacIntyre: Essays on Freedom, Narrative, and Virtue, John J. Davenport and Anthony Rudd. Replies by Alasdair Maclntyre and Philip L. Quinn. Chicago/la Salle, IL: Open Court, 2001, xxxix + 363 pp., £47.95, pb. £22.50. What Distinguishes Human Understanding? John Deely. South Bend, IN: St Augustine's Press, 2002, xiv + 178 pp., £17.50. Acts of Religion, Jacques Derrida. Ed. with intro. by Gil Anidjar. London/new York: Routledge, 2002, vi + 436 pp., pb. £15.99. Religion and Media, Hent de Vries and Samuel Weber. Cultural Memory in the Present. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001, xvii + 649 pp., $69.00, pb. $29.95. Art and Value, George Dickie. Oxford: Blackwell, 2001, vi + 114 pp., £45.00, pb. £11.99. Modern Philosophy from Descartes to Nietische: An Anthology, Steven M. Emmanuel and Patrick Goold. Blackwell Philosophy Anthologies. Maiden, MA/oxford: Routledge, 2002, xvii + 525 pp. The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell, Robert Enger and Lester Denonn, with new intro. by John Slater. London/new York: Routledge, 1992, reissue: 2001, 736 pp., pb. $26.95. Democracy, David Estlund. Blackwell Readings in Philosophy. Maiden, MA/oxford: Blackwell, 2001, xii + 310 pp., £55.00, pb. £15.99. Philosophy Goes to the Movies: An Introduction to Philosophy, Christopher Falzon. London/new York: Routledge, 2002, ix + 230 pp., pb. £11.99. Arresting Language: From Leibniz to Benjamin, Peter Fenves. Meridian: Crossing Aesthetics. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001, xiii + 379 pp., $55.00, pb. $24.95. Richard Rorty: Critical Dialogues, Matthew Festenstein and Simon Thompson. Cambridge: Polity, 2001, ix + 241 pp., £50.00, pb. £14.99. Berkeley and the Principles of Human Knowledge, Robert J. Fogelin. Routledge Philosophy Guidebooks. London/new York: Routledge, 2001, x + 166 pp., pb. £8.99. Intellectual Trust in Oneself and Others, Richard Foley. Cambridge Studies in Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001, x + 182 pp., $55.00. Thomas Kuhn: A Philosophical History for Our Times, Steve Fuller. Chicago/london: University of Chicago Press, 2000, pb. 2001, xvii + 472 pp., pb. $22.50, 314.50. A Common Humanity: Thinking about Love and Truth and Justice, Raimond Gaita. London/new York: Routledge, 2002, xiii + 293 pp., pb. Stochastic Causality, Maria Carla Galavotti, Patrick Suppe s and Domenieo Costantini. CSLI Publications. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, xii + 275 pp., $65.00, pb. $25.00; £41.00, pb. £16.00. Introduction to Logic, Harry J. Gensler. London/new York: Routledge, 2002, ix + 399 pp., pb. £15.99. Walter Benjamin: Critical Constellations, Graeme Gilloch. Key Contemporary Thinkers. Oxford: Polity, 2002, xi + 304 pp., £50.00, pb. £14.99. Between Ethics and Aesthetics: Crossing the Boundaries, Dorota Glowacka and Stephen Boos. Albany, NY: State University of New York, 2002, v + 310 pp., $81.50, pb. $27.95. Practical Rules: When We Need Them and When We Don't, Alan H. Goldman. Cambridge Studies in Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002, xi + 210 pp., $54.95. Manners and Violence, Ignacio L. Götz. Westport, CN/london: Praeger, 2000, xiii +131 pp., £44.50. Dummett: Philosophy of Language, Karen Green. Key Contemporary Thinkers. Cambridge: Polity, 2001, xi + 236 pp., £55.00, pb. £14.99. Wittgenstein: Connections and Controversies, P. M. S. Hacker. Oxford: Clarendon Press,2001. xxiv + 375 pp., £35.00. India: A Financial Sector for the Twenty-first Century, James A. Hanson and Sanjay Kathuria. Oxford India Paperbacks. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002, xv + 446 pp., pb. £13.99. Socialism, Michael W. Howard. Key Concepts in Critical Theory. New York: Humanity Books, 2001, 408 pp., pb. $29.00. Ontology and the Art of Tragedy: An Approach to Aristotle's Poetics, Martha Husain. SUNY Series in Ancient Greek Philosophy. Albany, NY: State University of New York,2002. ix + 152 pp., pb. $16.95. Why Good is Good: The Sources of Morality, Robert A. Hinde. London/new York: Routledge, 2002, xiv + 241 pp., pb. £15.99. Logical Investigations, Edmund Husserl. Two vols. trans. J. N. Findlay, revised Dermot Moran with new preface by Dermot Moran and new introduction by Michael Dummett. International Library of Philosophy. London/new York: Routledge, 2001, vol. 1, Ixxxvii + 331 pp., pb. $29.95; vol. 2, xiv + 364 pp., pb. $29.95. The Shorter Logical Investigations, Edmund Husserl. Abridged ed. and trans. J. N. Findlay, abridged and revised by Dermot Moran with new preface by Dermot Moran and new introduction by Michael Dummett. London/new York: Routledge, 2001, Ixxxv + 422 pp., pb. $27.95. The Political, David Ingram. Blackwell Readings in Philosophy. Maiden, MA/ Oxford: Blackwell, 2001, xii + 310 pp., £60.00, pb. £15.99. Hegel, M. J. In wood. Arguments of the Philosophers. London/new York: Routledge, xxxiv + 582 pp., pb. Reconsidering Michael Polanyi's Philosophy, Stefania Ruzsits Jha. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2002, viii + 318 pp., $32.00. Speaking the Unspeakable: Religion, Misogyny, and the Uncanny Mother in Freud's Cultural Texts, Diane Jone-Pace. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001, x + 190 pp., $45.00, pb. $17.95, £29.95, pb. £12.95. Free Will, Robert Kane. Blackwell Readings in Philosophy. Maiden, MA/oxford: Blackwell, 2001, xii + 310 pp., £55.00, pb. £15.99. Wittgenstein: Biography and Philosophy, James C. Klagge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001, xv + 272 pp., $54.95, pb. $19.95. Frege and the Logic of Sense and Reference, Kevin C. Klement. Studies in Philosophy: Outstanding Dissertations. New York/london: Routledge, 2002, xiii + 260 pp., $70.00. The Presence of Myth, Leszek Kolakowski. Chicago, IL/london: University of Chicago Press, pb. ed. 2001, xii + 138 pp., $13.00, £8.50. Justifying Emotions: Pride and Jealousy, Kristján Kristjansson. Routledge Studies in Ethics and Moral Theory. London/new York: Routledge, 2001, xii + 257 pp., £50.00. Understanding Philosophy of Science, James Ladyman. London/new York: Routledge, 2002, xiii + 290 pp., pb. £12.99. Infinite Minds: A Philosophical Cosmology, John Leslie. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2001, xi + 234 pp., £25.00. Appositions of Jacques Derrida and Emmanuel Levinas, John Llewelyn. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2002, xx + 255 pp., $49.95, pb. $24.95. Logic, Form, and Grammar. Peter Long. International Library of Philosophy. London/new York: Routledge, 2000, x + 109 pp. Metaphysics: A Contemporary Introduction, Michael J. Loux. Routledge Contemporary Introductions to Philosophy. London/new York: Routledge, 2002, xiii + 303 pp., pb. £13.99. Metaphysics: Contemporary Readings, Michael J. Loux. Routledge Contemporary Readings in Philosophy. London/new York: Routledge, 2002, xii + 555 pp., pb. £16.99. The Metaphysicians of Meaning: Russell and Frege on Sense and Denotation, Gideon Makin. International Library of Philosophy. London/new York: Routledge, 2000, ix + 229 pp. Towards a Critical Theory of Society, Herbert Marcuse. Collected Papers of Herbert Marcuse 2. London/new York: Routledge, 2001, xiii + 242 pp., £19.99. Kierkegaard in the Present Age, Gordon Marino. Pref. by Philip Rieff. Marquette Studies in Philosophy 27. Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University Press, 2001, 124 pp. An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind, K. T. Maslin. Cambridge: Polity, 2001, xviii + 332 pp., no price given. The Philosophy of Merleau-Ponty, Eric Matthews. Continental European Philosophy. Chesham, UK: Acumen, 2002, vi + 186 pp., £40.00, pb. £14.95. Mind and Mechanism, Drew McDermott. Bradford Books. Cambridge, MA/london: MIT Press, 2001, xv + 262 pp., $32.95. Approaches to Wittgenstein: Collected Papers, Brian McGuinness. London/new York: Routledge, 2002, xv + 299 pp., £50.00. Collective Rationality and Collective Reasoning, Christopher McMahon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001, ix + 251 pp., $54.95, pb. $19.95. Authority and Estrangement: An Essay on Self-Knowledge, Richard Moran. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001, xxxv + 202 pp., £35.00, pb. £11.95. The Sublime in Kant and Beckett Aesthetic Judgement, Ethics and Literature, Bjørn K. Myskja. Kantstudien 140. Berlin/new York: Walter de Gruyter, 2002, xii + 313 pp., no price given. Spinoza's Heresy: Immortality and the Jewish Mind, Steven Nadler. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2001, xvi + 225 pp., £22.50. Arguing About Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates, Alex Neill and Aaron Ridley. 2nd ed. London/new York: Routledge, 2002, xiii + 479 pp. Building on Frege: New Essays on Sense, Content, and Concept, Albert Newen, Ulrich Nortmann and Rainer Stuhlmann-Laeisz. CSLI Publications. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, xxiv + 351 pp., $65.00, pb. $23.00, £41.00, pb. £14.50. Naturalism and Religion, Kai Nielsen. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2001, 506 pp., $40.00. Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future, Friedrich Nietzsche. Ed. Rolf-Peter Horstmann and Judith Norman; trans. Judith Norman. Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001, xxxiv + 193 pp., $38.00, pb. $14.00. Truth Matters: Realism, Anti-Realism and Response-Dependence, Christopher Norris. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2002, viii + 228 pp., £40.00. Naturalism and the Human Condition: Against Scientism, Frederick A. Olafson. London/ New York: Routledge, 2001, xi + 115 pp., pb. £13.99. Wittgenstein's Tractatus: A Dialectical Interpretation. Matthew B. Ostrow. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002, x + 175 pp., $55.00, pb. $20.00. Land, Value, Community: Callicott and Environmental Philosophy, Wayne Ouderkirk and Jim Hill. Albany, NY: State University of New York, 2002, ix + 358 pp., $73.50, pb. $24.95. Philosophy and the Adventure of the Virtual: Bergson and the Time of Life, Keith Ansell Pearson. London/new York: Routledge, 2002, ix + 246 pp., $80.00, pb. $38.95. Environmental Culture: The Ecological Crisis of Reason, VaI Plum wood. Environmental Philosophies. London/new York: Routledge, 2002, vii + 291 pp., pb. £13.99. Ethical Life: The Past and Present of Ethical Cultures, Harry Redner. Lanham/boulder/ New York/oxford: Rowman and Littlefield, 2001, ix + 348 pp., $80.00, pb. $32.95. Paradoxes: Their Roots, Range, and Resolution, Nicholas Rescher. Chicago/la Salle, IL: Open Court, 2001, xxiii + 293 pp., £44.50, pb. £20.95. Medicine, Magic and Religion, W. H. R. Rivers. The Fitzpatrick Lectures. Routledge Classics. Preface by G. Elliot Smith. London/new York: Routledge, 2001, viii + 136 pp.. No price given. Is it Righteous to Be? Interviews with Emannuel Levinas, Jill Robbins. Meridian: Crossing Aesthetics. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001, ix + 305 pp., $55.00, pb. $24.95. Philosophy of Science: A Contemporary Introduction, Alex Rosenberg. Routledge Contemporary Introductions to Philosophy. London/new York: Routledge, 2000, x + 191 pp. ABC of Relativity, Bertrand Russell. 6th ed. with intro. by Peter Clark. London/ny: Routledge, 1992, reissue: 2001, xvi + 155 pp., pb. $15.95. What is Truth? Richard Schantz. Current Issues in Theoretical Philosophy 1. Berlin/ New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2002, vi + 338 pp., no price given. The BlackweU Guide to Social and Political Philosophy, Robert L. Simon. Blackwell Philosophy Guides. Maiden, MA/oxford: Blackwell, 2002, xi + 329 pp., £60.00, pb. £16.99. The Unfinished Project: Toward a Postmetaphysical Humanism, Lorenzo C. Simpson. London/ny: Routledge, 2001, xi +180 pp., $85.00, pb. $22.95. Hegel and the Phenomenology of Spirit, Robert Stern. Routledge Guidebooks. London / New York: 2001, xviii + 234 pp., pb. £8.99. Wittgenstein, Avrum Stroll. Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2002, ix + 162 pp., pb. $14.95. Matters of Mind: Consciousness, Reason and Nature, Scott Sturgeon. International Library of Philosophy. London/new York: Routledge, 2000, x + 166 pp. Marx for a Post-Communist Era, Stefan Sullivan. London/new York: Routledge, 2002, x + 191 pp., pb. £14.99. Critical Reasoning: A Practical Introduction, Arme Thompson. 2nd ed. London/new York: Routledge, 2002, ix + 209 pp., pb. £12.99. Hyperreality: Paradigm for the Third Millennium, John Tiffin and Nobuyoshi Terashima. London/new York: Routledge, 2001, vvii +165 pp., price not given. Foucault and Latin America: Appropriations and Deployments of Discoursive Analysis, Benigno Trigo. New York/london: Routledge, 2002, xxi + 305 pp., pb. £16.99. Knowledge, Michael Welbourne. Central Problems of Philosophy. Chesham, UK: Acumen, 2001, xiii + 143 pp., £35.00, pb. £12.95. Philosophy, Literature and the Human Good, Michael Weston. London/new York: Routledge, 2001, xix + 198 pp., pb. £14.99. A Clearing in the Forest: Law, Life, and Mind, Steven L. Winter. Chicago/london: University of Chicago Press, 2001, xvii + 440 pp., $38.00/£24.00. Kant, Herder, and the Birth of Anthropology, John H. Zammito. Chicago/london: University of Chicago Press, 2002, xii + 576 pp., pb. $29.00, £18.50. (shrink)

Careful readers of Wittgenstein tend to overlook the significance his engineering education had for his philosophy; this despite Georg von Wright’s stern admonition that “the two most important facts to remember about Wittgenstein were, firstly, that he was Viennese, and, secondly, that he was an engineer.” Such oversight is particularly tempting for those of us who come to philosophy late, having first been schooled in math and science, because our education tricks us into thinking we understand engineering by extension. But (...) we do not. I will illustrate this common tendency to misread Wittgenstein by examining three engineering concepts that have little significance for science but played important roles in Wittgenstein’s philosophical thinking. These are: method of projection, dynamical similarity, and satisfactoriness. The upshot of this analysis will be a strong challenge to the myth of his putative fideism because neither fideism nor its contrary simply would have occurred to Wittgensteinthe-engineer. (shrink)

Ludwig Wittgenstein was a reclusive and enigmatic philosopher, writing his most significant work off campus in remote locations. He also held a chair in the Philosophy Department at Cambridge, and is one of the university’s most recognized even if, as Ray Monk says, ‘reluctant professors’ of philosophy. Paradoxically, although Wittgenstein often showed contempt for the atmosphere at Cambridge and for academic philosophy in particular, it is hard to conceive of him making his significant contributions without considerable support from his academic (...) colleagues, his research fellowship and later teaching career at Cambridge. It is this conflicted relationship we explore, between the revolutionary thinker and his base within an educational institution. Starting from a brief biographical sketch of Wittgenstein’s academic life at Cambridge, including his involvement as a student and faculty member in the Moral Sciences Club, we look at how he reconceived the role of philosophy throughout this... (shrink)