Fitzgerald states that Wittgenstein focused on these two areas (language and its social context) precisely because they confounded him, because of his high functioning autism.
A condition such as AS highlights the conscious and unconscious barriers to learning that students can face from lecturers who might have a stereotypical profile of their students - unwilling to accommodate those who transcend the norm
Were critical thinking to be widely and successfully taught, individual deeds of everyday life would come under the province of nonindividual reason and get, for the first time, a logical articulation.
It has been suggested that Ludwig Wittgenstein had Asperger's syndrome. This paper reviews the evidence and concludes that he had the major features of Asperger's syndrome. (Links to subscription article.)
A visual tour of Wittgenstein's home at Kundmanngasse 19, Wien (Vienna). 34 black and white photographs, each captioned with a quote from Wittgenstein in German. Elegant!
Wittgenstein always seemed an isolated figure. That his ideas are found difficult is something that he was well aware of and he felt that in some way he did not fit into the world in which he lived.
J.J. O'Connor, E.F. Robertson
(Wittgenstein's) notes are the key to his published work... Philosophers usually intend what they write to be read by others, but these notes are a kind of thinking on paper.. . in most of them Wittgenstein is facing problems alone.
David Pears, Blackwell Companion to Philosophy
By showing the application of modern logic to metaphysics, via language, he provided new insights into the relations between world, thought and language and thereby into the nature of philosophy.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Austrian-born philosopher who contributed several groundbreaking works to modern philosophy, primarily on the foundations of logic and the philosophy of language.
Always an ascetic, he gave away his inheritance, relying on the generosity of his Cambridge champions, Russell and John Maynard Keynes, to secure academic employment for him, living frugally and in later life being cared for by his disciples.
Wittgenstein... proposes an experimental idea which he termed 'the meaning-blind'. After investigating the natural implications of 'color-blindness' he asks: what would it be like not to be able to experience meaning?
The emphasis in these sketches is on the exposition of the ideas of Wittgenstein, a homosexual, and an intuitive, moody, proud, and perfectionistic thinker generally regarded as a genius.
Wittgenstein stated that his purpose was to finally free humanity from the pointless and neurotic philosophical questing that plagues us all. As he put it, 'To show the fly the way out of the fly bottle.'
British Broadcasting Corporation
What is the use of studying philosophy if it doesn't improve your thinking about the important questions of everyday life? It is the pressing question Wittgenstein asked himself throughout his career as a philosopher.
Internet Resources