Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) has often been compared to Socrates, and there are some striking resemblances—the trances of concentration they went into, the sharp questioning of those who professed to know, the search for purity of language and life. But the contrast is sharper than any such comparisons. Wittgenstein is a powerful example of the separation of modern philosophy from ordinary life, a separation he deeply regretted but could do little to remedy. Unlike Socrates, who engaged citizens in philosophical self-examination at public meeting places, Wittgenstein could not bring himself, very often, to meet with a small circle of students. He feared that not even those select Cambridge philosophers could understand him.