ABSTRACT
Asceticism and ornament1 – it is hard to think of a man for whom this contrast is so important as for Wittgenstein (T.E. Lawrence is one of the few parallels). We know how fiercely Wittgenstein avoided the one and embraced the other. We have been told of the scrupulous simplicity of his later life, of his renunciation of his inheritance, of the small sums he needed for his own support. We know also that for him, as for his mentor Weininger, there was an obvious inner connection between logic, ethics, and aesthetics. Our task now is to tease out the unifying idea behind all this, if indeed it exists. Was there a single model exemplified in his life and thought or were there conflicting elements in his views as in his personality? Perhaps too there was no uniform idea throughout his life but rather changes, as there surely were in his circumstances and his occupations. Simplicity was always an essential for him: not so economy in the means used to achieve it. Was there, then, an essential change in his preferred model of life, leading perhaps to the voluntary choice of poverty? And were some elements in the supposed whole mere matters of taste? Wittgenstein used to say that his preference for simple food and furniture was exactly that, and by no means a merit of his.
