Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Wittgenstein and Soviet Communism

On being recommended a couple of sources, I have been reading about Wittgenstein's political opinions, especially as in regard to Russian communism. Apparently, he was inspired by Tolstoy and thought a classless society sounded like a fine idea.

While I was looking up old articles in the New Left Review, I took a gander at the "Special Dossier" on Sraffa in the November-December 1978 issue. Sraffa and Wittgenstein seem to have this in common: the documentary evidence on their views on a whole host of interesting topics is slim.

References
  • Eagleton, Terry (1982). "Wittgenstein's Friends", New Left Review, N. 135 (Sep.-Oct.): 64-90
  • Ferrata, Giansiro (1978). "An Argument with Gramsci in 1924", New Left Review, N. 112 (Nov.-Dec.): 67-71
  • Garegnani, Pierangelo (1978). "Sraffa's Revival of Marxist Economic Theory: An Interview with Pierangelo Garegnani", New Left Review, N. 112 (Nov.-Dec.): 71-75
  • Moran, John (1972). "Wittgenstein and Russia", New Left Review, N. 135 (Sep.-Oct.): 64-90
  • Napoleoni, Claudi (1978). "Sraffa's 'Tabula Rasa'", New Left Review, N. 112 (Nov.-Dec.): 71-77
  • Napolitano, Giorgio (1978). "Our Debt to Sraffa", New Left Review, N. 112 (Nov.-Dec.): 65-67
  • Ranchetti, Fabio (1978). "Keynes, Sraffa and Capitalist Crisis", New Left Review, N. 112 (Nov.-Dec.): 78-80
  • Robinson, Christopher C. (2006). "Why Wittgenstein is Not Conservative: Conventions and Critique", Theory and Event, V. 9, N. 3
  • Roncaglia, Alessandro (1978). "The 'Rediscovery' of Ricardo", New Left Review, N. 112 (Nov.-Dec.): 80-82
  • Sraffa, Piero (1978). "An Unpublished Letter from Piero Sraffa to Angelo Tasca", New Left Review, N. 112 (Nov.-Dec.): 82-83

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

wasnt there a paper by amartya sen a couple of years back in the JEL on sraffa's influene on wittgenstein?

Robert Vienneau said...

Thanks. I gave a complete citation to Sen's paper last April. I've only obtained one paper from the International Symposium on Wittgenstein and Sraffa
Austria, 11-13 May 2006.

Ralph Dumain said...

This valuable bibliography complements mine on Wittgenstein & Marxism. Can't wait to read the Robinson article.

PS: I also have biblios on Wittgenstein & dialectics, and Wittgenstein & Hegel.

Gustavo Lucas said...

Robert,

thanks for the post. I study economics and the cambridge tradition but i´ve never heard of any interview of garegnani or any NLR dedicated to Sraffa. It´s good to see this people in this context.