Francis Skinner

For the associate of Berthold Lubetkin, see Francis Skinner (architect).

Sidney George Francis Guy Skinner (1912–1941) was a friend, collaborator, and lover of the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. He was born in 1912 in Kensington, London, England. While studying mathematics at Cambridge in 1930, Skinner fell under Wittgenstein's influence and "became utterly, uncritically, and almost obsessively devoted to Wittgenstein.".^[1] Their relationship was characterized by Skinner's eagerness to please Wittgenstein and conform to his opinions. In 1934, the two made plans to emigrate to the Soviet Union and become manual labourers, but Wittgenstein visited the country briefly and realised the plan was not feasible - the Soviet Union might have allowed Wittgenstein to immigrate as a teacher, but not as a manual labourer.

Skinner graduated with a degree in Mathematics from Cambridge in 1933 and was awarded a postgraduate fellowship. For three years he used his fellowship assisting Wittgenstein in preparing a book on philosophy and mathematics (never published).^[2] During the academic year 1934-5 Wittgenstein dictated to Skinner and Alice Ambrose the text of the Brown Book.^[3] However, Wittgenstein's hostility towards academia resulted in Skinner's withdrawal from university, first to become a gardener, and later a mechanic (much to the dismay of Skinner's family). In the late 1930s though, Wittgenstein grew increasingly distant, until Skinner's death from polio in 1941.

In 2011 an extensive archive came to light, consisting of 170,000 words of handwriting and text plus mathematics. This apparently had mostly been dictated by Wittgenstein to Skinner, with annotations by both. The archive includes a long-lost so-called Pink Book. Wittgenstein had posted them to a friend of Skinner's days after his death.^[4]

Notes

↑ Monk, Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius, p. 331
↑ Monk, Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius, p. 334
↑ Wittgenstein L., The Blue and Brown Books, ed. by R. Rhees, London: Blackwell, 1958, preface p. v.
↑ "Lost archive shows Wittgenstein in a new light"

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Family	Margaret Stonborough-Wittgenstein Karl Wittgenstein Paul Wittgenstein Works associated with Paul Wittgenstein

Early work	Picture theory of language Truth tables

Later work	Language-game Private language argument Family resemblance Rule following Form of life Wittgenstein's philosophy of mathematics

Publications	Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus Some Remarks on Logical Form Blue and Brown Books Philosophical Remarks Philosophical Investigations On Certainty Culture and Value Remarks on Frazer's Golden Bough Remarks on the Foundations of Mathematics Zettel Remarks on Colour Lectures and Conversations on Aesthetics, Psychology, and Religious Belief

Movements	Analytic philosophy Linguistic turn Ideal language philosophy Logical atomism Logical positivism Ordinary language philosophy Wittgensteinian fideism Quietism

Friends	G. E. M. Anscombe R. B. Braithwaite Rudolf Carnap Paul Engelmann John Maynard Keynes Peter Geach Norman Malcolm G. E. Moore David Pinsent Frank P. Ramsey Rush Rhees Bertrand Russell Moritz Schlick Francis Skinner Piero Sraffa Vienna Circle Friedrich Waismann Peter Winch G. H. von Wright

Biographers	David Edmonds Ray Monk William Warren Bartley

Secondary sources	A. J. Ayer Gordon Baker James F. Conant Cora Diamond Terry Eagleton Peter Hacker Saul Kripke Anthony Kenny Warren Goldfarb Stanley Cavell D. Z. Phillips Colin McGinn Jaakko Hintikka Oswald Hanfling A. C. Grayling Rupert Read Barry Stroud Stephen Toulmin Crispin Wright Fergus Kerr

Miscellaneous	Cambridge Apostles Cambridge University Moral Sciences Club Haidbauer incident Haus Wittgenstein Fritz Mauthner

Film	Wittgenstein (film)

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