Why was Wittgenstein a genius?

Answer 1

What do: Russell, Moore, the Vienna Circle (Carnap, Neurath, Schlick, etc.), Ramsey, Ryle, Anscombe, Austin, Putnam, Davidson, Kripke, Searle, Rorty, Dennett, Brandom, Dreyfus, Hintikka... have in common?

Wittgenstein's genius lies in his colossal talent for philosophy. As Russell claimed, 'Wittgenstein could play with metaphysical intricacies like Pascal with numbers or Tolstoy with emperors'.

Answer 2

Wittgenstein's Tractatus was not a 'dead letter' --- while Wittgenstein himself repudiated it, the work was tremendously influential and remains so. The whole of the Vienna Circle's logical positivism was, in effect, a misreading of the Tractatus, and dominant currents in much of analytic philosophy (Quine, etc.) are descended from the tradition.

Wittgenstein's later work, meanwhile, is widely considered to represent some of the most original and brilliant work ever done in western philosophy. The Philosophical Investigations and On Certainty have proven incredibly influential, allowing Wittgenstein to redefine analytic philosophy for the second time, and impacting widely disparate disciplines. While there are many who disagree with or misunderstand Wittgenstein, very few deny his extreme intelligence.