TEHRAN – Austrian architect Paul Engelmann’s book “Letters from Ludwig Wittgenstein with a Memoir” has recently been translated into Persian.

Wittgenstein was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of language.

Engelmann was a Viennese architect who is now best known for his friendship with Wittgenstein between 1916 and 1928, and for being his a partner in the design and construction of the Stonborough House in Vienna.

“Wittgenstein is the most influential philosopher of the twentieth century,” translator Hamed Erfan told the Persian service of ISNA on Saturday.

“He was Adolf Hitler’s classmate at school. He came from a wealthy family who was never seduced by money. He even anonymously donated a great deal of money to [the writers] Georg Trakl and Rainer Maria Rilke,” he added.  

“Wittgenstein’s letters to Engelmann were penned in the heat of World War I when he was working in the frontline on his philosophical notes, which were later published in a book with an introduction from [his teacher] Bertrand Russell,” Erfan explained.

He said, “In ‘Letters from Ludwig Wittgenstein’, Wittgenstein shows a greater tendency to praise women’s spirit. He recollects his sister, Mining, and the close friendship between Engelmann and his mother, to whom the book has been dedicated.      

“In the letters, he also writes about his loneliness and his intentions of killing himself several times… by reading this book, we will find the thing that caused his masterpiece ‘The Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus [Logical Philosophical Treatise or Treatise on Logic and Philosophy] was created,” he added.

The Persian version of “Letters from Ludwig Wittgenstein with a Memoir” will be published in Tehran in the near future. 

Photo: Front cover of the English version of Paul Engelmann’s book “Letters from Ludwig Wittgenstein with a Memoir”.

MMS/YAW