Wittgenstein, Marx, and Marxism: Some Historical Connections

Dimitris Gakis

doi:10.3390/h4040924

Abstract

The present article aims at highlighting the connections that can be drawn between Wittgenstein and Marx(ism) from a historical point of view, through developing a synoptic account of the available relevant historical and biographical data. Starting with a discussion of Wittgenstein’s relation to the Italian Marxist economist Piero Sraffa, it then moves to a presentation of Wittgenstein’s broader circle of Marxist friends. Our account continues and concludes by examining and comparing Wittgenstein’s stance towards the Two World Wars and Stalin’s U.S.S.R. The approach developed in this article not only challenges the widespread image of Wittgenstein as a philosopher indifferent to issues of a political nature. It also traces Marxism as a significant aspect of the context in which Wittgenstein’s philosophy, and particularly its later phase, was developed.

Highlights

It has often been suggested that Wittgenstein was, by and large, an apolitical man, someone who did not have a substantial interest in sociopolitical issues
The present article aims at providing a synoptic account of those points in order to assemble a comprehensive and perspicuous presentation of the connections that can be drawn between Wittgenstein, Marx, and Marxism from a historico-biographical point of view
What is clear is that Wittgenstein’s later biographical and historical context was largely a Marxist-centered one

Summary

Introduction

It has often been suggested that Wittgenstein was, by and large, an apolitical man, someone who did not have a substantial interest in sociopolitical issues. The present article aims at providing a synoptic account of those points in order to assemble a comprehensive and perspicuous presentation of the connections that can be drawn between Wittgenstein, Marx, and Marxism from a historico-biographical point of view Such an account has an interest of its own for those focusing on Wittgenstein’s life and personality, but it may gain an additional philosophical weight if considered in combination with the striking similarities, and the important differences, that can be drawn between Wittgenstein’s (meta) philosophy and that of Marx.. The approach developed in this article counters those broader discussions of Wittgenstein as an apolitical, or rather conservative, thinker (see [19,20] for examples of such discussions) It may help us in seeing from a new perspective the significant influence of Wittgenstein’s later philosophy on some of the key figures of what, admittedly rather vaguely, can be described as post-Marxist political theory, such as Antonio Negri, Chantal Mouffe, and Jean-François Lyotard

Wittgenstein and Sraffa

Wittgenstein’s Circle of Marxist Friends

Wittgenstein and the Two World Wars

Concluding Remarks