David Hume Pinsent (; 24 May 1891 – 8 May 1918) was a collaborator and an alleged lover of the Austrian philosopher

Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. From 1929 to 1947, Witt ...

. Wittgenstein's ''

Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus The ''Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus'' (widely abbreviated and Citation, cited as TLP) is the only book-length philosophical work by the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein that was published during his lifetime. The project had a broad goal ...

'' (1922) is dedicated to Pinsent's memory.

Early life

Pinsent, a descendant of philosopher

David Hume David Hume (; born David Home; – 25 August 1776) was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist who was best known for his highly influential system of empiricism, philosophical scepticism and metaphysical naturalism. Beg ...

's brother, John Hume, was born in

Edgbaston Edgbaston () is a suburb of Birmingham, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It lies immediately south-west of Birmingham city centre, and was historically in Warwickshire. The Ward (electoral subdivision), wards of Edgbaston and Nort ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. He gained a first-class honours degree in mathematics at Cambridge University, where he was described by George Thomson, future master of Corpus Christi College as "the most brilliant man of my year, among the most brilliant I have ever met". Pinsent then studied law.

Career

He met Wittgenstein, two years older, as an undergraduate at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

in 1912.''Loners: The Life Path of Unusual Children'' Sula Wolff, 1995, p. 161
Books-Google-161
He acted as Wittgenstein's subject in psychological experiments on rhythm in speech and music, and he struck up a rapport, based on shared interests in music and mathematics. That led to holidays together, including trips to Iceland and Norway, which Wittgenstein paid for. His diary (1912–1914) mentions his times and travels with Wittgenstein.

First World War

During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Pinsent was deemed unsuitable for active military service. He trained as a test pilot instead and worked at the

Royal Aircraft Establishment The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), bef ...

in Farnborough, where he was killed in a flying accident in May 1918. His body was found in the Basingstoke Canal a week after the accident.

References

External links

Sunningwell War Memorial
— Brief biography of David Hume Pinsent

- Chronology of Ludwig Wittgenstein's life, with summaries of Pinsent's diary entries for the times they spent together. {{DEFAULTSORT:Pinsent, David 1891 births 1918 deaths Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in England English test pilots People from Edgbaston Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1918 Victims of flight test accidents Wittgensteinian philosophers