David Pears

David Francis Pears, FBA (8 August 1921 – 1 July 2009) was a British philosopher renowned for his work on Ludwig Wittgenstein. Along with Brian McGuinness, he published what became the standard English translation of the Tractatus in 1961.

Life David Francis Pears was born on 8 August 1921 in Bedfont, Middlesex. He was the second of four sons born to Robert Pears (1891–1986) and Gladys Eveline, Meyers (1892–1977). His father was a descendant of Andrew Pears the creator of Pears soap, and Robert's family were amongst those who benefitted from the sale of the company to the Lever Brothers. At Westminster he had specialized in classics and it was as a classical scholar that he went to Balliol College, Oxford in 1939. He obtained a first in classical moderations in 1940 but his academic career was interrupted by World War II. Pears left hospital fascinated by Wittgenstein's work and certain that philosophy was his true interest.

Works

Books authored Bertrand Russell and the British Tradition in Philosophy 1967 What is Knowledge? 1971 Ludwig Wittgenstein. Viking Press 1970. Questions in the Philosophy of Mind 1975 Motivated Irrationality. Oxford: Clarendon Press 1984. The False Prison: A Study of the Development of Wittgenstein's Philosophy. 2 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press 1987/1988. Hume's System: An Examination of the First Book of His Treatise. Oxford: Oxford University Press 1991.

Paradox and Platitude in Wittgenstein's Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2006.