von Wright G. H. (b.1916), Finnish philosopher, one of the most influential analytic philosophers of the twentieth century. His early work, influenced by logical empiricism, is on logic, probability, and induction, including contributions in modal and deontic logic, the logic of norms and action, preference logic, tense logic, causality, and determinism. In the 1970s his ideas about the explanation of action helped to link the analytic tradition to Continental hermeneutics. His most important contribution is A Treatise on Induction and Probability (1951), which develops a system of eliminative induction using the concepts of necessary and sufficient condition. In 1939 von Wright went to Cambridge to meet Broad, and he attended Wittgenstein’s lectures. Regular discussions with Moore also had an impact on him. In 1948 von Wright succeeded Wittgenstein as professor at Cambridge University. After Wittgenstein’s death in 1951, von Wright returned to Helsinki. Together with Anscombe and Rush Rhees, he became executor and editor of Wittgenstein’s Nachlass. The study, organization, systematization, and publication of this exceptionally rich work became a lifelong task for him. In his Cambridge years von Wright became interested in the logical properties of various modalities: alethic, deontic, epistemic. An Essay in Modal Logic (1951) studies, syntactically, various deductive systems of modal logic. That year he published his famous article ‘Deontic Logic’ in Mind. It made him the founder of modern deontic logic. These logical works profoundly influenced analytic philosophy, especially action theory. Von Wright distinguishes technical oughts (means-ends relationships) from norms issued by a norm-authority. His Norm and Action (1963) discusses philosophical problems concerning the existence of norms and the truth of normative statements. His main work on metaethics is The Varieties of Goodness (1963). In Explanation and Understanding (1971) he turned to philosophical problems concerning the human sciences. He defends a manipulation view of causality, where the concept of action is basic for that of cause: human action cannot be explained causally by laws, but must be understood intentionally. The basic model of intentionality is the practical syllogism, which explains action by a logical connection with wants and beliefs. This work, sometimes characterized as anti-positivist analytical hermeneutics, bridges analytic and Continental philosophy. His studies in truth, knowledge, modality, lawlikeness, causality, determinism, norms, and practical inference were published in 1983–84 in his Philosophical Papers. In 1961 von Wright became a member of the Academy of Finland, the highest honor Finland gives to its scientists. Over many years he has written, in Swedish and Finnish, eloquent essays in the history of ideas and the philosophy of culture. He has become increasingly critical of the modern scientific-technological civilization, its narrowly instrumental concept of rationality, and its myth of progress. His public pleas for peace, human rights, and a more harmonious coexistence of human beings and nature have made him the most esteemed intellectual in the Scandinavian countries. See also ACTION THEORY, DEONTIC LOGIC, EPISTEMIC LOGIC , PRACTICAL REASONING , PROBLEM OF INDUCTION , WITTGENSTEI. I.N.