The work of Ludwig Wittgenstein is a strange product of hard reasoning and brilliant imagination, immediately captivating but deep and often difficult to fathom. Besides, Wittgenstein produced not one but two highly original philosophies at different times in his life. Both must be understood, and reconciled; and it is a reconciliation as well as an exposition that David Pears offers in this book. He analyses Wittgenstein's two major works - the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and the Philosophical Investigations - emphasises their limitations as well as their merits, and sets his conclusions against the background of the striking changes in the nature of philosophy in this century. His conclusion is that taken together the two books amount to something truly great, an achievement of the highest philosophical genius, which in spite of its frequent difficulty, never loses contact with the thought and images of those who have not read any academic philosophy.