Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Simply Wittgenstein

By: James C. Klagge
Narrated by: Joff Manning
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £11.99

Buy Now for £11.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

Born in Vienna into an extremely wealthy and highly cultured family, Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) grew up surrounded by art, music, and a disturbing amount of dysfunctional behavior. After studying mechanical engineering and developing an interest in aeronautics, he became obsessed with mathematics and logic, which led to his life's work exploring the relationship between language, philosophy, and reality.

In Simply Wittgenstein, James Klagge presents a fascinating portrait of this brilliant and troubled man, while exploring his two extraordinary books - the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and Philosophical Investigations - in which he gave concrete form to his singular and perplexing ideas. Drawing on 30 years of teaching about Wittgenstein at both the undergraduate and graduate level, Klagge provides a clear and accessible introduction to these seminal works, helping the reader understand the revolutionary nature of Wittgenstein’s insights and the reason they continue to resonate in our own time.

©2016 James C. Klagge (P)2017 Simply Charly
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Simply Dirac cover art
Philosophical Investigations cover art
A Little History of the World cover art
History cover art
Teaching Johnny to Think cover art
Thoughtful Theism cover art
Ancient Philosophy cover art
Aristotle cover art
Ultimate Lost and Philosophy cover art
Games for Your Mind cover art
Incompleteness cover art
Aha! cover art
The Big Lebowski and Philosophy cover art
The Art of Nonfiction cover art
Technopoly cover art
Everybody Is Wrong About God cover art

What listeners say about Simply Wittgenstein

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    11
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    11
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    9
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great intro to Wittgenstein

Where does Simply Wittgenstein rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

A very accessible introduction to Wittgenstein and his philosophy. I look forward to more in the "Simply" series.

Who was your favorite character and why?

It's gotta be Wittgenstein, right?

What does Joff Manning bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

The narrator was excellent which made the book a joy to listen to.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Review

I find learning some subjects very difficult and often dare I say it rather tedious. However I have a great thirst for knowledge and not being by any stretch of the imagination a quick learner I decided to try out one of these recordings. I had better mention at this time that I am a "third age" learner so my opinion may be very different to that of a young mind. The readers voice was clear and his perfect diction made him easy to understand. I realy appreciated his English accent but that is my personal preference in all learning and classical literature and most poetry. My only criticism is that as the subject is difficult for me I wish he could have spoken a little slower. But I feel that is not his normal speech pattern. I think there is a mechanism on the recording to alter the speed but unlike a 3 year old at 68 I am unable to press the right buttons. I refuse to ask my exasperated and know it all offspring for help. I am fed up being a source of amusement. Believe me, once a 4 year old tells a room full of people not to let you touch their machine because "she did it? and now I cant watch Thomas" you get the picture? ' I found on listening to the recording just once, I loved all the interesting facts about the subjects life. So much I had no knowledge of was really very interesting and brought more questions for future discovery. Getting down th the theory, well, that was a doozy, some was easy most was mind boggling, really hard. So hard I did not understand the words explaing the words lol, "only joking" not realy. If it was easy there would be no need for anyone to to be a genious now would there? What is a genious anyway? It is just someone who has a different part of their brain "charged" to pick up "that" sequence of knowledge from the Ether. This author has that knowledge and he teaches it in as clear a way as such difficult concepts can be taught. I envy his students and wish I had been one of them. I was a dunce at school. The narrator speaks so clearly I find it easy to think he too could help me learn most subjects except maths. Even Einstein could not get that into my poor abused brain, that and long division lol.
So all in all I loved this recording, and funds permitting, or generous benefactors on special occasions, if I should continue to breath a little longer I would listen to more of these recordings.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting

Any additional comments?

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

I really enjoyed this audiobook. It was a quick and easy read about Wittgenstein, a philosopher that I personally not heard of before. Wittgenstein was himself a very interesting man, focusing his philosophy on the use of language. The author is very good as he expands on what parts of Wittgenstein's theory is still relevant today and clarified the more confusing aspects of his theory.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Simply Wittgenstein

There is nothing simple about this man.He has an interesting background BUT I couldn't make heads or tales from his philosophy.I take it that is why we need it simplified.I liked the narrator,Joff Manning s, voice and narration.I was provided this book by the author, narrator or publisher.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful