Shaping a domain of knowledge by editorial processing: the case of editing Wittgenstein's work

The project "Shaping a domain of knowledge by editorial processing: the case of editing Wittgensteins work" (Nr.: 213080) describes the history of editing Wittgenstein's Nachlass in its social, philosophical and historical context. The well known philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein did not publish much during his lifetime. Instead he entrusted three of his friends with the task to publish from his writings what they thought fit. In the subsequent decades the three heirs - Rush Rhees, Elizabeth Anscombe and G.H.v.Wright - devoted large parts of their lifes to make Wittgenstein's thoughts known. Their book editions still serve as the most widely used gate to Wittgenstein's philosophy. Since Wittgenstein's complete Nachlass is accessible in the "Bergen Electronic Edition", the books edited by Rhees, Anscombe and von Wright have been critically discussed from a editorial point of view. However, there is more to the story of editing Wittgenstein: viewed in its social, philosophical and historical contexts the editorial history of Wittgenstein's Nachlass becomes a fascinating case of what it can mean to inherit a philosophy. The project gathers and investigates new archival material and conducts interviews in order to reconstruct the history of editing Wittgenstein with this broad scope. In cooperation with institutional partners in Austria, England, Finland, Germany, Norway and Wales a most fascinating chapter in 20th century history of philosophy may be unravelled.

At the "Von Wright and Wittgenstein Archives" (WWA) at the University of Helsinki is a substantial collection of about 10.000 pages of Georg Henrik von Wright's correspondence available to research for the first time. The major part of this correspondence is related to more than 40 years work of editing Ludwig Wittgenstein's unpublished works. The project will examine this extensive new material at WWA to shed light on the role editorial processes have played in shaping the picture Wittgenstein's philoso phy. Wittgenstein published only little more than 100 pages during lifetime. The major part of his philosophical work (18.000 pages) was made available trough posthumous publications. As literary executors Georg Henrik von Wright, Elisabeth Anscombe and Rush Rhees edited a series of volumes that became known as the works of Wittgenstein. Since comparison with Wittgenstein's entire Nachlass is possible it is evident that the literary executors took a significantly active role in selecting and compiling in their editions. In order to reconstruct the editorial processes in preparation of the literary executors' editions philosophical, methodological and editorial expertise from Norway, Finland, Austria and Germany will be brought together. The resulting in sight into the origins of the posthumous editions is highly significant for how the scholarly community approaches Wittgenstein's works and what is regarded to be Wittgenstein's philosophy. Moreover, by illuminating how editorial processes of selecting and compiling shape the picture of a domain of knowledge the project yields new conceptual tools and methods applicable to other examples in the history of the humanities and the sciences. This is a valuable contribution to the Humanities' challenge to me et the conditions for informational democracy in the 21st century.