Frank Ramsey: A Sheer Excess of Powers

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When he died in 1930 aged 26, Frank Ramsey had already invented one branch of mathematics and two branches of economics, laying the foundations for decision theory and game theory. Keynes deferred to him; he was the only philosopher whom Wittgenstein treated as an equal. Had he lived he might have been recognized as the most brilliant thinker of the century. This amiable shambling bear of a man was an ardent socialist, a believer in free love, and an intimate of the Bloomsbury set. For the first time Cheryl Misak tells the full story of his extraordinary life. Cover FRANK RAMSEY: a sheer excess of powers Copyright CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS: ARCHIVAL SOURCES LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS: PUBLISHED WORKS OF FRANK RAMSEY AND LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN TRUNCATED FAMILY TREE AUTHOR’S NOTE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS PREFACE Beginning at the End The Mind The Heart The Challenges Note on Primary Sources PART I: BOYHOOD 1: THE RAMSEYS A Cambridge Family Vicars and Preachers Hearties vs Spartans Agnes Ramsey Arthur Ramsey Family Values The First Born 2: WINCHESTER NEARLY UNMADE HIM Sweating, Chaffing, Ragging Digging In and Getting On A Lifeline: C.K. Ogden Bolshie Finding His Way Home 3: ‘WE REALLY LIVE IN A GREAT TIME FOR THINKING’ The Greats I: Keynes The Greats II: Moore The Greats III: Russell The Greats IV: Wittgenstein The Shaky Foundations of Mathematics PART II: THE CAMBRIDGE MAN 4: UNDERGRADUATE LIFE Post-War Wreckage and Jubilation Friendship Mathematics Takes a Back Seat to Socialism and Philosophy Heretics and Apostles Adventure and Misadventure Smooth on the Surface, Roiling Underneath 5: ‘TO MY GENERATION, HE WAS RATHER FRIGHTENING’ The Border Country Taking on the Greats: Keynes on Probability and Induction Taking on the Greats: Moore and Russell The Douglas Social Credit Proposals 6: RAMSEY AND THE EARLY WITTGENSTEIN An Undergraduate Translates the Tractatus Taking on the Greats: Wittgenstein on Saying and Showing 1923 Visit to Puchberg A Bolt from Cambridge, Massachusetts 7: VIENNA INTERLUDE Bloomsbury The Pykes A Full Viennese Calendar Psychoanalysis ‘He Is No Good for My Work’ The Tractatus, Ramsey, and the Vienna Circle Cured! Kingsman! 8: ‘THE FUNDAMENTALS ARE SO PHILOSOPHICAL’ The Foundation of Mathematics and the Theory of Types The Reception of ‘The Foundation of Mathematics’ 9: THE NEW DON A King’s Life Teacher Sex from the Point of View of Society 10: PASSION FOUND Lettice Cautley Baker A Real Relationship Familial Storm The Stars Are as Small as Threepenny Bits Freudian Theory Ψα, Utilitarianism, Feminism PART III: AN ASTONISHING HALF DECADE 11: SETTLING DOWN IN WORK AND LIFE Can Language and Logic Tell Us What There is in the World? A Brief and Discordant Visit from Wittgenstein Marriage, Their Way 12: REVOLUTION IN PHILOSOPHY ‘Facts and Propositions’ Measuring Belief in the Face of Uncertainty The Birth of Expected Utility Theory ‘Too High a Standard to Expect of Mortal Men’ Pragmatism: Logic and Truth for Humans 13: TWO CRISES A Trifle, and Agnes is Dead ‘Thank Goodness We’ve Got into the Habit of Telling Each Other Everything’ 14: CAMBRIDGE ECONOMICS Keynes and Pigou Three Socialist Economists: Dobb, Sraffa, Ramsey The Thoroughbred 15: RAMSEYAN ECONOMICS: THE FEASIBLE FIRST BEST Optimal Taxation How Much Should We Save for Future Generations? Taxing Savings The Role of Mathematics in Economics 16: 1928 RETURN TO MATHEMATICS Not a Committee Man The Entscheidungsproblem Ramsey Theory The Bolshevik Menace 17: WITTGENSTEIN COMES HOME A Nervous Start The PhD Saga Philosopher Kings ‘What We Can’t Say, We Can’t Say, and We Can’t Whistle It Either’ A Clash of Intellectual Temperaments The Infinite 18: ‘THE PROBLEM OF PHILOSOPHY MUST BE DIVIDED IF I AM TO SOLVE IT’ On Truth Scientific Theories and Entities The Afterlife of Ramsey Sentences: The Vienna Circle and Beyond The System with which We Meet the Future 19: THE END AND MEANING OF A LIFE A Summer of Family and Friends Fatal Illness Cause of Death The Meaning of Life: Russell, Wittgenstein, Ramsey ENDNOTES Preface Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 ILLUSTRATION SOURCES BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Cited Works of Ramsey and Wittgenstein 1.1 Frank Ramsey 1.2 Ludwig Wittgenstein 2. Other Works Cited NAME INDEX SUBJECT INDEX