Dueling philosophers

So far, so contentious. But there was a subtext to the argument that added fuel to the flames, and it is by way of exploring this that the authors take up their central question: "To whom did Popper utter what words in that room full of witnesses, and why?"

Their answer is couched in terms of the differing personal histories of the two protagonists. Both of them grew up in the astonishingly fertile milieu of fin-de-siècle Vienna, embracing religious assimilation; both had to endure the impact of defeat in the Great War; both were, ultimately, cut off from their native country and their families as a result of the Nazi Anschluss: Wittgenstein finding refuge in Britain, Popper in New Zealand.

Yet they remained in more ways than one a world apart. Wittgenstein seemed to enjoy the advantages of birth, connections, and academic regard. He gained easy access to the citadels of philosophy in Vienna and Cambridge. Popper, on the other hand, seemed fated to live and work at the periphery. Whereas Wittgenstein from time to time fled from what he took to be the insufferable consequences of his mounting fame, Popper endured a tragicomic series of perceived slights and neglect that fed a growing resentment that he had never gained the recognition he deserved.

He believed his accomplishments exceeded those of Wittgenstein's and indeed provided a bulwark against what he considered to be the latter's baneful influence. Eventually, he came to Britain - not to Oxbridge as he had hoped, but to London - determined to establish his supremacy over the man he considered his rival and a threat to the very practice of philosophy.

Wittgenstein, on the other hand, immersed as always in his own concerns and unaware of Popper's work except as yet another (unread) instance of the sort of philosophizing that he deplored, saw his antagonist simply as someone to be refuted, the quicker the better before the Moral Science Club meeting went on too long.

While we will never know exactly what happened that evening in King's College, the evidence does not support the notion that Wittgenstein departed the room in a fury at having been bested by his opponent. The authors, through dint of extensive research, cast serious doubt on the account given by Popper. More important, the biographical context they offer provides plausible reasons why it was so important for him to have laid claim to victory in this brief encounter.

From a fragment of philosophical history, Edmonds and Eidinow have produced a fascinating account of an intellectual schism and the passions that sustained it.

• N.L. Malcolm taught philosophy at Cambridge University. 'Wittgenstein and Popper had a profound influence on the way we address the fundamental issues of civilization, science, and culture. Each man believed that he had freed philosophy from the mistakes of its past, and that he carried responsibility for the future.'

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