Wittgenstein's House - by Nana Last (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Wittgenstein's House reads Wittgenstein's his two main philosophical texts, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and Philosophical Investigations, in relation to an experience that intervened between them: his design and construction of the Stonborough-Wittgenstein house in Vienna. Arguing that the practice of architecture occupies not just a historical position between Wittgenstein's early and late philosophy, but a conceptual position as well, the book demonstrates that Wittgenstein's practice of architecture constitutes a fundamental component in the development of his philosophy of language from its early to late phases.

Review Quotes

. . . An interesting and thought-provoking work, one that adds to the corpus of writings on Wittgenstein's ideas about architecture and aesthetics.-- "--Estetika: The Central European Journal of Aesthetics"

" . . . Reveals heretofore unseen and unsuspected edifying relations between architecture and philosophy and their distinctive ways of seeing and thinking."-- "--Postmodern Culture"

A noteworthy synthesis of Wittgenstein's philosophy with the subject of architecture.-- "--wittgenstein-news.org"

"A strikingly brilliant and lucid piece of work. Last shows how Wittgenstein's entanglements of philosophy and architecture become the necessary prologue to his accomplishment in the Investigations. Wittgenstein's House takes what is often considered a marginal or extraneous interlude in his work and demonstrates how it in fact forms the indispensable pivot of a major reorientation in
Wittgenstein's thought."

-----Bruce Clarke, Texas Tech University

Accessible...Brings forward the virtues of applied abstraction through keen and historical treatment of both the writings and the Stonborough project.-----Tom Conley, Harvard University

This book opens new and unexpected vistas into the complex landscape - or perhaps I should say the complex architecture and spatiality - of Wittgenstein's philosophy. In that sense, it makes an important, dual contribution to the history of philosophy and to the history of modern architecture.-----Mark Jarzombek, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

About the Author

NANA LAST is Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Virginia.