Wittgenstein's Poker: The Story of a Ten-Minute Argument Between Two Great Philosophers

The story behind the legendary confrontation between Karl Popper and Ludwig Wittgenstein, “an enthralling reconstruction of the episode”—New York Times

On October 25, 1946, in a crowded room in Cambridge, England, the greatest 20th centrury philosophers Ludwig Wittgenstein and Karl Popper came face to face for the first and only time. The meeting—which lasted ten minutes—did not go well. Their loud and aggressive confrontation became the stuff of instant legend. But precisely what happened in those ten minutes remains the subject of intense disagreement. Almost immediately, rumors spread around the world that the two great philosophers had come to blows, armed with red-hot pokers.

What really went on in that room? And what does the violence of this brief exchange tell us about these two men, modern philosophy, and the significance of language in solving our philisophical problems?

Wittgenstein’s Poker is an engaging mix of philosophy, history, biography, and literary detection.

On October 25, 1946, in a crowded room in Cambridge, England, the great twentieth-century philosophers Ludwig Wittgenstein and Karl Popper came face to face for the first and only time. The meeting -- which lasted ten minutes -- did not go well. Their loud and aggressive confrontation became the stuff of instant legend, but precisely what happened during that brief confrontation remained for decades the subject of intense disagreement.

An engaging mix of philosophy, history, biography, and literary detection, Wittgenstein's Poker explores, through the Popper/Wittgenstein confrontation, the history of philosophy in the twentieth century. It evokes the tumult of fin-de-siécle Vienna, Wittgentein's and Popper's birthplace; the tragedy of the Nazi takeover of Austria; and postwar Cambridge University, with its eccentric set of philosophy dons, including Bertrand Russell. At the center of the story stand the two giants of philosophy themselves -- proud, irascible, larger than life -- and spoiling for a fight. |

“A terrific book, a fuguelike account of everything we know and don’t know about a ten-minute squabble between two great philosophers.” - The New Yorker

Engrossing....David Edmonds and John Eidinow succeed splendidly in convincing us that the nights events--remembered, misremembered and angrily debated by eyewitnesses and researchers since--were a kind of high-cultural watershed, and the clash between Wittgenstein and Popper has the glamour of a small epic. - Los Angeles Times

“A remarkably lucid overview of the 20th century philosophy.” - New York Newsday

“An excellent piece of philosophical journalism....” - Financial Times

“This face-off makes for a great anecdote. David Edmonds and John Eidinow were shrewd enough to spot three terrific angles...the biographical/historical angle...the detective angle...the purely intellectual angle...An enthralling reconstruction of the episode.” - New York Times Book Review

“A meaty, exceedingly well-researched and engaging book about 20th century philosophy...” - San Francisco Chronicle