Has
Wittgenstein been influenced by Spinoza? It is a question that haunted my mind
already for some time, so now that I had written a few blogs on Spinoza again,
I thought that it was a good idea to sort it out at last and to search for the
answer on the Internet. The result was meagre but the answer is clear: Yes,
Wittgenstein has been influenced by Spinoza, indeed. Probably Wittgenstein has
even read some texts by Spinoza as a schoolboy, for such texts were read on the
type of school he visited. However, how big has this influence been? In fact,
as far as I know and could find out, Wittgenstein mentions Spinoza’s name only
once, and then it is not in one of his philosophical works but in his war
diary. Actually, the reference to Spinoza is a bit weird. Immediately after the
outbreak of the First World War Wittgenstein decided to volunteer in the
Austrian army. Then, on 15 September 1914 – one month in service – he writes in
his diary: “The Russians are on our heels! The enemy is very close to us. Am in
a good mood. Have worked [=philosophized] again. I can work best now while
peeling potatoes. I always volunteer for it. It is for me what lens-grinding
was for Spinoza.” Here, Stan Verdult adds in his blog: “Then you do feel a
touch of identification”.
However,
identification is not the same as being influenced by. If there is any work by
Wittgenstein that has been influenced by Spinoza, it is the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (TLP).
This work has been written originally in German and the title was [translated] Logical Philosophical Treatise. When the
work was published in English, G.E. Moore suggested the Latin title as homage
to Spinoza’s Tractatus Theologico-Politicus
and Wittgenstein agreed. This is not really strange, for not only held
Wittgenstein apparently the Dutch philosopher in high esteem, but a closer look
at the TLP shows that its structure has some similarity with the structure of
Spinoza’s Ethics. Both works are
characterized by a mathematical structure and decimal arrangements.
Also the
text of the TLP shows here and there a touch of Spinozism, especially in
section 6, where Wittgenstein writes:
6.4311 ... If
by eternity is understood not endless temporal duration but timelessness, then
he lives eternally who lives in the present. ...
6.4312 ...
The solution of the riddle of life in space and time lies outside space and
time. ...
6.432 How
the world is, is completely indifferent for what is higher. God does not reveal
himself in the world.
6.4321 The
facts all belong only to the task and not to its performance.
6.44 Not
how the world is, is the mystical, but that it is.
6.45 The
contemplation of the world sub specie aeterni is its contemplation as a limited
whole.
The feeling
of the world as a limited whole is the mystical feeling.
This can be
read as a reference to Spinoza, but unlike Spinoza, Wittgenstein has placed God
outside the world, while for Spinoza, the world is God (“Deus sive Natura”,
“God or Nature”, as Spinoza says.) It’s a kind of criticism on Spinoza. But
Wittgenstein doesn’t mention Spinoza here, for Wittgenstein only rarely mentions
names in his works. To what or whom Wittgenstein’s words refer must be find out
by the reader. This makes Wittgenstein’s work so difficult to interpret and
altogether I think that the similarity between the TLP and Spinoza’s work is
quite meagre. Then, the further Wittgenstein has left the TLP behind him in
time, the less Spinoza we can see in his work. In his other main work the Philosophical Investigations – finished
30 years after the TLP – I can see no relationship with Spinoza at all. My
conclusion is then that Wittgenstein valued Spinoza a lot and that Spinoza’s
thoughts have touched Wittgenstein here and there early in his philosophical
career. More is mere speculation.
References and Sources
- Baum,
Wilhelm, Wittgenstein im Ersten
Weltkrieg. Die „Geheimen Tagebücher“ und die Erfahrungen an der Front
1914-1918). Klagenfurt-Wien: Kitab Verlag 2014.
- “Daarover moet men zwijgen”,
https://webapp.fkt.uvt.nl/gfo/default/index/witi-lk4
- Verdult,
Stan, “Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951)
De wereld is al wat het geval is - één werkelijkheid, een onzegbaarheidstheorie
en Spinoza”, http://blog.despinoza.nl/log/ludwig-wittgenstein-1889-1951-de-wereld-is-al-wat-het-geval-is-een-werkelijkheid-een-onzegbaarheidstheorie-en-spinoza.html
- Wittgenstein, Ludwig, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, http://www.gutenberg.org/files/5740/5740-pdf.pdf
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