WITTGENSTEIN, Ludwig (1889-1951). Autograph letter signed (‘Ludwig Wittgenst.’) to [R.E.] Priestley, Hochreith, Post Hohenberg, Nieder-Österreich, n.d. [late July 1929].

WITTGENSTEIN, Ludwig (1889-1951). Autograph letter signed (‘Ludwig Wittgenst.’) to [R.E.] Priestley, Hochreith, Post Hohenberg, Nieder-Österreich, n.d. [late July 1929].

In English. Two pages, 270 x 212mm. [With:] photocopied letters and documents relating to Wittgenstein’s Ph.D. application.

‘I’d rather be killed than write a summary now’: Wittgenstein on the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, recently submitted to Cambridge as his Ph.D. thesis. He left the university three weeks ago and is now staying in Austria ‘trying to concentrate on my work again, after a 10 daies [sic] forced interruption. You will believe me that under these circumstances nothing more disagreeable could have happened to me than to be requested to write a summary of my book which I am absolutely unable to produce. I’m sorry to say I had forgotten the whole thing entirely or I would have asked Ramsey to write some thing for me. And all I could do now – & did – was to write to Ramsey begging him to write a summary & send it to you as soon as possible’. Wittgenstein sincerely hopes he will do so, but asks: ‘If the worst came to the worst, couldn’t you after all accept my preface as a summary or indeed publish the summary-book without my contribution? Surely nobody will miss it. Nobody would read it anyhow & nobody, if they read it, would get any idea as to the contents of the dissertation. I hope you will forgive me; the truth: I’d rather be killed than write a summary now’.

1929 marked Wittgenstein’s ‘return to Philosophy’ following a number of years with his back firmly turned to academia, in which he worked as a gardener and contemplated becoming a monk. Before he could assume a post at Cambridge, a degree was required; Frank Ramsey (1903-1930) was among the friends who suggested he submit the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus – first published in 1921 – as a Ph.D. thesis. In his report on the dissertation, G.E. Moore described it as a work of genius; unfortunately for the secretary of the Board of Research Studies, R.E. Priestley, Wittgenstein was less than enthusiastic about the prospect of revisiting his magnum opus, here rejecting a request to provide the thesis summary usually required of successful candidates.