Brian McGuinness

Brian McGuinness
Born	Bernard Francis McGuinness (1927-10-22)22 October 1927 Wrexham, Wales
Died	23 December 2019(2019-12-23) (aged 92) Florence, Italy

Brian McGuinness (22 October 1927 – 23 December 2019) was a Wittgenstein scholar best known for his translation, with David Pears, of the Tractatus-Logico-Philosophicus,[1] and for his biography of the first half of Wittgenstein's life.

He was christened with the forenames "Bernard Francis" but changed his name to "Brian" in his youth.[2] He commonly published, and was cited, as B. F. McGuinness.

He went up to Balliol College in 1945 where he was tutored by R. M. Hare.[2] McGuinness was a Fellow and Tutor at Queen's College in Oxford University from 1953 to 1988, and took a post at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study. In 1990, he became a professor at the University of Siena, Italy. From 1990 to 1993, he was director of the faculty of philosophy and social sciences of this university.[3] During his time at Queen's, he was an invited speaker at the Oxford Socratic Club, speaking with J. D. Mabbott on "The Problem of Free Will" on 14 November 1955.

Family

His son, Paddy McGuinness, is a former British civil servant who was the Deputy National Security Adviser for Intelligence.[4] His daughter, Catherine McGuinness, is a lawyer with a senior position in the City of London Corporation.[5]

Select bibliography

Books authored

• Wittgenstein: A Life: Young Ludwig, 1889-1921, Berkeley, California: University of California Press (1988) ISBN 0-520-06451-8. Subsequently published with a new preface as Young Ludwig: Wittgenstein's Life, 1889-1921. New York: Clarendon Press (2005).
• (with Guido Frongia) Wittgenstein: A Bibliographical Guide (1990) ISBN 0-631-13765-3
• Approaches to Wittgenstein: Collected Papers (2002). ISBN 0-415-03261-X

Select papers

• "The Mysticism of the Tractatus", Philosophical Review, vol. 75 (1966), pp. 305–28.
• "Philosophy of Science in the Tractatus", Revue Internationale de Philosophie, vol. 23 (1969), pp. 155–64.
• "Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein's Notes on Logic", Revue Internationale de Philosophie, vol. 26 (1972), pp. 444–60.

Works edited/translated

• (with David Pears) Ludwig Wittgenstein: Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, (1961) ISBN 0-415-25408-6 [6]
• Felix Kaufmann: The Infinite in Mathematics: Logico-Mathematical Writings, (1978) ISBN 978-90-277-0847-2
• Hans Hahn: Empiricism, Logic and Mathematics: Philosophical Papers, (1980) ISBN 90-277-1065-1
• Gottlob Frege: Collected Papers on Mathematics, Logic and Philosophy, (1984) ISBN 0-631-12728-3
• Ernst Mach: Principles of the Theory of Heat: Historically and Critically Elucidated, (1986) ISBN 90-277-2206-4
• Unified science. The Vienna monograph series, originally edited by Otto Neurath, now in an English edition. (1987) ISBN 90-277-2484-9
• (with J. Schulte) Friedrich Waismann, Josef Schächter, Moritz Schlick: Ethics and the will: Essays, (1994) ISBN 0-7923-2674-1
• (with Gianluigi Oliveri) The Philosophy of Michael Dummett, (1994) ISBN 0-7923-2804-3
• (with Gianluigi Oliveri) Karl Menger: Reminiscences of the Vienna Circle and the Mathematical Colloquium (1994). ISBN 0-7923-2711-X
• (with George Henrik von Wright) Ludwig Wittgenstein: Cambridge Letters, (1995) ISBN 1-4051-4701-6
  • Wittgenstein in Cambridge: Letters and Documents 1911-1951 (2008) ISBN 9781405147019 [7]
• Language, Logic, and Formalization of Knowledge: Coimbra Lecture and Proceedings of a Symposium Held in Siena in September 1997, (1998) ISBN 88-87106-07-X

References

1. "Brian McGuinness, – A MESSAGE FROM THE BWS PRESIDENT |". Retrieved 14 March 2021.
2. Obituaries, Telegraph (9 January 2020). "Brian McGuinness, world-renowned expert on Ludwig Wittgenstein – obituary". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 11 January 2020. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
3. "Curriculum e pubblicazioni". intra.lett.unisi.it. Archived from the original on 10 March 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
4. "McGuinness, Patrick Joseph, (born 27 April 1963), Founder and Director, Hudhud Associates Ltd, since 2018". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. 1 December 2023. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
5. "Meet Catherine McGuinness: The City of London Corporation's policy chairman". Evening Standard. 1 December 2017.
6. Jarvis, Judith (1962). "Review of Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus". The Journal of Philosophy. 59 (12): 332–335. doi:10.2307/2022906. ISSN 0022-362X. JSTOR 2022906.
7. Hsu, Andrew (2008). "Wittgenstein in Cambridge: Letters and Documents 1911-1951". Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews. Retrieved 14 March 2021.

External links

• "A Tapestry: Susan Edwards-McKie Interviews Professor Dr B. F. McGuinness on the Occasion of His 90th Birthday" Susan Edwards-McKie & Brian McGuinness, Nordic Wittgenstein Review 6 (2):85-90 (2017)
• November 2017 laudatio by Josef Mitterer given on the occasion of McGuinness receiving an honorary doctorate from the University of Innsbruck.