ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the imaginative work of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and the roots of his monumental Tractatus. There is no certain explanation why, in 1908, Ludwig left the Hochschule in Charlottenburg to move to Manchester University. Both institutions had aeronautic programs, but it has been suggested that the Manchester program was more up to date—although it seems that Wittgenstein felt that German engineering was superior. Or had he—a Viennese from a city with a more relaxed ambience—found the culture of the Prussian Kaiserstadt uncongenial? Anti-Semitism was a problem in Vienna, but at least the old Habsburg Kaiser admired the Jews' productive economic role. Not so in the Prussian court. The head of the Prussian Evangelical Lutheran Church was the young Emperor Wilhelm II, who was strongly influenced by the reactionary Prince Philip zu Eulenburg.
