Georg Henrik von Wright

Georg Henrik von Wright (; 14 June 1916 – 16 June 2003) was a Finnish philosopher. He is particularly known for his work in philosophical logic, especially deontic logic, his work on Ludwig Wittgenstein's later philosophy, and his work on moral pessimism, especially regarding the Myth of Progress.

Early life and education Georg Henrik von Wright was born in Helsinki, Finland on 14 June 1916 to Tor von Wright, a managing director, Von Wright was of both Finnish and 17th-century Scottish ancestry; the Scottish von Wright family had been raised to the Finnish nobility in 1772. He was an undergraduate at the University of Helsinki from 1934 to 1937, majoring in philosophy, history and political science while minoring in mathematics. His philosophy advisor was Eino Kaila, an affiliate of the Vienna Circle who introduced von Wright to logical empiricism.

As von Wright recounts, he visited Vienna in 1937 and met with Gödel and Viktor Kraft, but the Vienna Circle was already 'rapidly dispersing' by then and the Anschluss of 1938 put an end to his 'dreams' of studying there. Instead, it being customary for a Finnish postgraduate to spend some time at a foreign university, he went to Trinity College, Cambridge to work on his PhD thesis in March of 1939. He became a member of the Academy of Finland in 1961

Death Von Wright died at his home in Helsinki on 16 June 2003. His library and papers were donated to the University of Helsinki and have become available to researchers via the National Library of Finland. He also received honorary doctorates from the University of Helsinki, the University of Innsbruck, the University of Buenos Aires, Stockholm University, the University of Turku, the University of Liverpool, St. Olaf College, and Lund University. Den logiska empirismen (Logical Empiricism), in Swedish, 1945. A Finnish translation by Hilppa Kinos, , was also published in 1945. Über Wahrscheinlichkeit. Eine logische und philosophische Untersuchung (On Chance), in German, 1945 An Essay in Modal Logic, (Studies in Logic and the Foundations of Mathematics: Volume V), L.E.J. Brouwer, E.W. Beth, 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. Translated into Finnish by Jussi Aro as in 1961 Logical Studies, 1957. Logik, filosofi och språk (Logic, philosophy and language), in Swedish, 1957. Translated into Finnish by Jaakko Hintikka and Tauno Nyberg as in 1958 The Varieties of Goodness, 1963. (revised version of the second half of his 1959–60 Gifford Lectures, given at the University of St. Andrews) 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. Published with a bibliography of deontic and imperative logic Time, Change and Contradiction, (The Twenty-Second Arthur Stanley Eddington 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. (The 1972 Woodbridge Lectures delivered at Columbia University) Handlung, Norm und Intention (Action, Norm and Intention), in German, 1977 Humanismen som livshållning (Humanism as an approach to Life), in Swedish, 1978. Translated into Finnish by Kai Kaila as in 1981 Freedom and Determination, 1980 Wittgenstein, 1982 Philosophical Papers I–III, 1983–1984 v. I Practical Reason, v. II Philosophical Logic, v. III Truth, Knowledge, and Modality Of Human Freedom, 1985. (1984 Tanner Lectures at the University of Helsinki) 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, 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 Wittgenstein, which were published by Blackwell (unless otherwise stated): 1961. Notebooks 1914-1916. 1967. Zettel (Translated into English by G. E. M. Anscombe as Zettel). 1969. On Certainty. 1969. Briefe an Ludwig von Ficker. Salzburg: Otto Müller Verlag. Co-edited with Walter Methlagl 1971. ProtoTractatus—An Early Version of Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. Cornell University Press; co-edited with B. F. McGuinness and T. Nyberg, with a historical introduction by von Wright. 1973. Letters to C. K. Ogden with Comments on the English Translation of the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. 1974. Letters to Russell, Keynes and Moore. 1977. Muistikirja 1914–1916. Finnish translation of Notebooks 1914–1916, co-published with G. E. M. Anscombe and translated by Heikki Nyman 1978 (1956). Remarks on the Foundations of Mathematics (German: Bemerkungen über die Grundlagen der Mathematik); co-edited with Rush Rhees and G. E. M. Anscombe. 1978. Zettel. Filosofisia katkelmia. Finnish translation of Zettel, co-published with G. E. M. Anscombe and translated by Heikki Nyman 1979. Yleisiä huomautuksia (General Remarks). Co-edited with Heikki Nyman. 1980. Remarks on the Philosophy of Psychology, Vols 1–2. 1980. Culture and Value (Revised edition 1998). 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).