Georg Henrik von Wright (; 14 June 1916 – 16 June 2003) was a Finnish

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

Biography

G. H. von Wright was born in Helsinki on 14 June 1916 to Tor von Wright and his wife Ragni Elisabeth Alfthan. On the retirement of

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 ...

as professor at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

in 1948, von Wright succeeded him. He published in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

, Finnish,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, and

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

, belonging to the Swedish-speaking

minority Minority may refer to: Politics * Minority government, formed when a political party does not have a majority of overall seats in parliament * Minority leader, in American politics, the floor leader of the second largest caucus in a legislative b ...

of Finland. Von Wright was of both Finnish and 17th-century

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

ancestry, and the family was raised to

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...

in 1772. In later years von Wright began to take an interest in political questions, having opposed the heavy bombing ordered by

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

. He attended the Praxis School-organised Korčula Summer School.

Work

Von Wright's writings come under two broad categories. The first is

analytic philosophy Analytic philosophy is a broad movement within Western philosophy, especially English-speaking world, anglophone philosophy, focused on analysis as a philosophical method; clarity of prose; rigor in arguments; and making use of formal logic, mat ...

and

philosophical logic Understood in a narrow sense, philosophical logic is the area of logic that studies the application of logical methods to philosophical problems, often in the form of extended logical systems like modal logic. Some theorists conceive philosophic ...

in the Anglo-American vein. His 1951 texts ''An Essay in Modal Logic'' and "Deontic Logic" were landmarks in the postwar rise of formal modal logic and its

deontic In moral philosophy, deontological ethics or deontology (from Greek: and ) is the normative ethical theory that the morality of an action should be based on whether that action itself is right or wrong under a series of rules and principles, ...

version. He was an authority on Wittgenstein, editing his later works. He was the leading figure in the Finnish philosophy of his time, specializing in philosophical logic,

philosophical analysis Philosophical analysis is any of various techniques, typically used by philosophers in the analytic tradition, in order to "break down" (i.e. analyze) philosophical issues. Arguably the most prominent of these techniques is the analysis of conce ...

philosophy of action Action theory or theory of action is an area in philosophy concerned with theories about the processes causing willful human bodily movements of a more or less complex kind. This area of thought involves epistemology, ethics, metaphysics, jur ...

philosophy of language Philosophy of language refers to the philosophical study of the nature of language. It investigates the relationship between language, language users, and the world. Investigations may include inquiry into the nature of Meaning (philosophy), me ...

epistemology Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowle ...

, and the close study of

Charles Sanders Peirce Charles Sanders Peirce ( ; September 10, 1839 – April 19, 1914) was an American scientist, mathematician, logician, and philosopher who is sometimes known as "the father of pragmatism". According to philosopher Paul Weiss (philosopher), Paul ...

. The other vein in von Wright's writings is moralist and

pessimist Pessimism is a mental attitude in which an undesirable outcome is anticipated from a given situation. Pessimists tend to focus on the negatives of life in general. A common question asked to test for pessimism is " Is the glass half empty or hal ...

. During the last twenty years of his life, under the influence of

Oswald Spengler Oswald Arnold Gottfried Spengler (29 May 1880 – 8 May 1936) was a German polymath whose areas of interest included history, philosophy, mathematics, science, and art, as well as their relation to his organic theory of history. He is best know ...

Jürgen Habermas Jürgen Habermas ( , ; ; born 18 June 1929) is a German philosopher and social theorist in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism. His work addresses communicative rationality and the public sphere. Associated with the Frankfurt S ...

and the

Frankfurt School The Frankfurt School is a school of thought in sociology and critical theory. It is associated with the University of Frankfurt Institute for Social Research, Institute for Social Research founded in 1923 at the University of Frankfurt am Main ...

's reflections about modern

rationality Rationality is the quality of being guided by or based on reason. In this regard, a person acts rationally if they have a good reason for what they do, or a belief is rational if it is based on strong evidence. This quality can apply to an ab ...

, he wrote prolifically. His best known article from this period is entitled "The Myth of Progress" (1993), and it questions whether our apparent material and technological progress can really be considered "

progress Progress is movement towards a perceived refined, improved, or otherwise desired state. It is central to the philosophy of progressivism, which interprets progress as the set of advancements in technology, science, and social organization effic ...

" (see

Myth of Progress Progress is movement towards a perceived refined, improved, or otherwise desired state. It is central to the philosophy of progressivism, which interprets progress as the set of advancements in technology, science, and social organization effic ...

Awards

In the last year of his life, he was awarded several

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

s, including one by the

University of Bergen The University of Bergen () is a public university, public research university in Bergen, Norway. As of 2021, the university had over 4,000 employees and 19,000 students. It was established by an act of parliament in 1946 consolidating several sci ...

. He also was awarded the Swedish Academy Finland Prize in 1968.

Publications

*'' The Logical Problem of Induction'', PhD thesis, 31 May 1941 *''Den logiska empirismen'' (Logical Empiricism), in Swedish, 1945 *''Über Wahrscheinlichkeit'' (On Chance), in German, 1945 *''An Essay in Modal Logic'', (Studies in Logic and the Foundations of Mathematics: Volume V),

L.E.J. Brouwer Luitzen Egbertus Jan "Bertus" Brouwer (27 February 1881 – 2 December 1966) was a Dutch mathematician and philosopher who worked in topology, set theory, measure theory and complex analysis. Regarded as one of the greatest mathematicians of the ...

E.W. Beth Evert Willem Beth (7 July 1908 – 12 April 1964) was a Dutch philosopher and logician, whose work principally concerned the foundations of mathematics. He was a member of the Significs Group. Biography Beth was born in Almelo, a small t ...

, and A. Heyting (eds.), Amsterdam: North-Holland,1951 *''A Treatise on Induction and Probability'', 1951
"Deontic Logic"
''Mind'', 60: 1–15, 1951 *''Tanke och förkunnelse'' (Thought and Preaching), in Swedish, 1955 *''Logical Studies'', 1957 *''Logik, filosofi och språk'' (Logic, philosophy and language), in Swedish, 1957 *''The Varieties of Goodness'', 1963. (revised version of the second half of his 1959–60

Gifford Lectures The Gifford Lectures () are an annual series of lectures which were established in 1887 by the will of Adam Gifford, Lord Gifford at the four ancient universities of Scotland: St Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh. Their purpose is to "pro ...

, given at the

University of St. Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, following the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, t ...

) * '' Norm and Action'', 1963 (revised version of the first half of his Gifford lectures at St. Andrews). *'' The Logic of Preference'', 1963 *''Essay om naturen, människan och den vetenskaplig-tekniska revolutionen'' (Essay on Nature, Man and the Scientific-Technological Revolution), in Swedish, 1963 *'' An Essay in Deontic Logic'', 1968 *''Time, Change and Contradiction'', (The Twenty-Second

Arthur Stanley Eddington Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, (28 December 1882 – 22 November 1944) was an English astronomer, physicist, and mathematician. He was also a philosopher of science and a populariser of science. The Eddington limit, the natural limit to the lu ...

Memorial Lecture Delivered at Cambridge University 1 November 1968) Cambridge University Press. 1969 *''Tieteen filosofian kaksi perinnettä'' (The Two Traditions of the Philosophy of Science), in Finnish, 1970 *''Explanation and Understanding'', 1971 *''Causality and Determinism'', 1974 *''Handlung, Norm und Intention'' (Action, Norm and Intention), in German, 1977 *''Humanismen som livshållning'' (Humanism as an approach to Life), in Swedish, 1978 *''Freedom and Determination'', 1980 *''

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 ...

'', 1982 *''Philosophical Papers I–III'', 1983–1984 **v. I ''

Practical Reason In philosophy, practical reason is the use of reason to decide how to act. It contrasts with theoretical reason, often called speculative reason, the use of reason to decide what to believe. For example, agents use practical reason to decide whet ...

'', v. II ''Philosophical Logic'', v. III '' Truth, Knowledge, and Modality'' *
Of Human Freedom
'' 1985. (1984 Tanner Lectures at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...

) *''Filosofisia tutkielmia'' (Philosophical Dissertations), in Finnish, 1985 *''Vetenskapen och förnuftet'' (Science and Reason), in Swedish, 1986 *''Minervan Pöllö'' (The Owl of Minerva), in Finnish, 1991 *''Myten om framsteget'' (The Myth of Progress), in Swedish, 1993 *''The Tree of Knowledge and Other Essays,'' Leiden, Brill''.'' , 1993 *''Att förstå sin samtid'' (To Understand one's own Time), in Swedish, 1994 *''Six Essays in Philosophical Logic''.

Acta Philosophica Fennica ''Acta Philosophica Fennica'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Philosophical Society of Finland. The journal was established in 1935. From 1968 to 1981 it was distributed by North-Holland Publishing (Amsterdam, now Elsevier), ...

, Vol. 60, 1996 *''Viimeisistä ajoista: Ajatusleikki'' (On the End Times: A Thought Experiment.), in Finnish, 1997 *''Logiikka ja humanismi'' (''Logic and Humanism''), in Finnish, 1998 * ''In the Shadow of Descartes: Essays in the Philosophy of Mind'', Dordrech, Kluwer, 1998 *''Mitt liv som jag minns det'' (My Life as I Remember it), in Swedish, 2001 Von Wright edited posthumous publications by

, which were published by Blackwell (unless otherwise stated): * 1961. ''Notebooks 1914-1916''. * 1967. ''Zettel'' (Translated into English as ''Culture and Value''). * 1969. ''On Certainty''. * 1971. ''ProtoTractatus—An Early Version of Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus''.

Cornell University Press The Cornell University Press is the university press of Cornell University, an Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York. It is currently housed in Sage House, the former residence of Henry William Sage. It was first established in 1869, maki ...

. * 1973. ''Letters to C. K. Ogden with Comments on the English Translation of the

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 ...

''. * 1974. ''Letters to Russell, Keynes and Moore''. * 1978 (1956). ''Remarks on the Foundations of Mathematics''. * 1980. ''

Remarks on the Philosophy of Psychology The Remarks on the Philosophy of Psychology are two posthumously published volumes of remarks pertaining to the philosophy of psychology written by Ludwig Wittgenstein. The two volumes were first published in 1980, the first volume was edited by G. ...

'', Vols 1–2. * 1980. ''Culture and Value'' (English translation of ''Zettel''). * 1982. ''Last Writings on the Philosophy of Psychology'', Vols. 1–2, 1992. Von Wright also edited extracts from the diary of David Pinsent, also published by Wiley-Blackwell: * 1990. '' A Portrait of Wittgenstein as a Young Man: From the Diary of David Hume Pinsent 1912–1914''. . For more complete publication details see " Bibliography of the Writings of Georg Henrik von Wright" (in Schilpp, 1989) and "The Georg Henrik von Wright-Bibliography" (2005).

Notes

References

Sources

Von Wright Obituary.
''The Guardian'', 4 July 2003.
G. H. von Wright.
''Encyclopædia Britannica.'' (Archived by

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by Internet Archive, an American nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California. Launched for public access in 2001, the service allows users to go "back in ...

External links

"G. H. von Wright"
obituary by

Brian McGuinness Brian McGuinness (22 October 1927 – 23 December 2019) was a Wittgenstein scholar best known for his translation, with David Pears, of the ''Tractatus-Logico-Philosophicus'', and for his biography of the first half of Wittgenstein's life. He w ...

in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

,'' 24 June 2003 (Archived by

)
Georg Henrik Wright
in the National Biography of Finland.
Georg Henrik von Wright in ''375 humanists''.
Faculty of Arts, University of Helsinki, 13 May 2015. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Georg Henrik 1916 births 2003 deaths 20th-century Finnish essayists 20th-century Finnish philosophers 21st-century essayists 21st-century Finnish philosophers 20th-century Finnish nobility 21st-century Finnish nobility Bertrand Russell Professors of Philosophy Academic staff of the University of Helsinki Action theorists Analytic philosophers Epistemologists Fellows of the British Academy Finnish humanists Finnish people of Scottish descent Finnish writers in Swedish Logicians Modal logicians People from Uusimaa Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Philosophers of culture Philosophers of language Philosophers of logic Philosophers of science Philosophy writers Selma Lagerlöf Prize winners University of Helsinki alumni Virtue ethicists Writers from Helsinki Corresponding fellows of the British Academy Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences