[4] On the retirement of Ludwig Wittgenstein as professor at the University of Cambridge in 1948, von Wright succeeded him.

[4] He published in English, Finnish, German, and Swedish, belonging to the Swedish-speaking minority of Finland.

Von Wright was of both Finnish and 17th-century Scottish ancestry,[5] and the family was raised to nobility in 1772.

During the last twenty years of his life, under the influence of Oswald Spengler, Jürgen Habermas and the Frankfurt School's reflections about modern rationality, he wrote prolifically.

In the last year of his life, he was awarded several honorary degrees, including one by the University of Bergen.