Language and Solitude: Wittgenstein, Malinowski and the Habsburg Dilemma
In this book, Wittgenstein and Malinowski meet at the intersection of their ideas about language and the intellectual climate of the (late) Habsburg era, by which both were influenced. The book is primarily a highly negative appraisal of Wittgenstein's work?both the earlier and later phases?contrasted with a positive appraisal of Malinowski's. The anthropologist, in this account, is seen to have been "far more original" and, ultimately, more important than the philosopher. This view would, of course, be anathema to many contemporary philosophers?and not only because Wittgenstein has provided them with a lucrative cottage industry. Be that as it may, Gellner's grasp of both men's work and of history and politics, together with a marvelously fluid and engaging prose style, make this a book most academic libraries will want for their philosophy, anthropology, and intellectual history collections. (Gellner, after a distinguished career in philosophy and anthropology, died in 1995.)?Leon H. Brody, U.S. Office of Personnel Mgt. Lib., Washington, DCCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.