Product Description
When he died in 1930 aged twenty-six, 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.
Reviews/Praise
"
Frank Ramsey [...] makes noble reading. Ms Misak is a born teacher who explains tricky intellectual abstractions with a clarity that is exceptional. More than that, she writes with love. Her tenderness toward Ramsey, his parents and siblings, his wife and friends gives spirit and delicacy to the whole. There is astounding emotional intelligence in every chapter. One feels on each page Ms. Misak's fine mind concentrating hard on doing the best she can. This is an enthralling and glorious book." -
Richard Davenport-Hines,
The Wall Street Journal
Author Bio
Cheryl Misak is university professor and professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto. Her books include
Frank Ramsey: A Sheer Excess of Powers;
Cambridge Pragmatism;
The American Pragmatists;
Truth and the End of Inquiry; and
Truth, Politics, Morality.
