Erbacher - Elements in the Philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein: Wittgenstein’s Heirs and Editors

Elements in the Philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein

edited by

David G. Stern

University of Iowa

Wittgensteins Heirs and Editors

Christian Erbacher

University of Siegen

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Christian Erbacher 2020

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First published 2020

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Wittgensteins Heirs and Editors

Elements in the Philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein

DOI: 10.1017/9781108878111

First published online: September 2020

Christian Erbacher

University of Siegen

Author for correspondence: Christian Erbacher,

Abstract: Ludwig Wittgenstein is one of the most widely read philosophers of the twentieth century. But the books in which his philosophy was published with the exception of his early work Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus were posthumously edited from the writings he left to posterity. How did his 20,000 pages of philosophical writing become published volumes? Using extensive archival material, this Element reconstructs and examines the way in which Wittgensteins writings were edited over more than fifty years, and shows how the published volumes tell a thrilling story of philosophical inheritance. The discussion ranges over the conflicts between the editors, their deviations from Wittgensteins manuscripts, other scholarly issues which arose, and also the shared philosophical tradition of the editors, which animated their desire to be faithful to Wittgenstein and to make his writings both available and accessible. The Element can thus be read as a companion to all of Wittgensteins published works of philosophy.

Keywords: history of analytical philosophy, scholarly editing, Rush Rhees, Elizabeth Anscombe, Georg Henrik von Wright

Christian Erbacher

ISBNs: 9781108813204 (PB), 9781108878111 (OC)

ISSNs: 2632-7112 (online), 2632-7104 (print

This book is not about Ludwig Wittgensteins philosophy. It is about his literary heirs and editors and how they made the books the world has come to know as Wittgensteins later works. The one philosophical book published during his lifetime (in 1922) was the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. In 1929, Wittgenstein returned to philosophical writing and created an oeuvre of 20,000 pages during the subsequent twenty-one years. When he died in 1951, the copyright to this philosophical work was passed on to three of his students and friends. Wittgensteins wish was that they publish what they thought fit. This is the starting point for the present Element. It sketches what happened to Wittgensteins writings on their journey into the public sphere, from the day of his death in 1951 until the death of the last of the three literary heirs in 2003. Given that their editorial interventions are not always obvious in the printed volumes, the account presented in this Element could also serve as an editorial note to the study of Wittgensteins philosophy.

The main source for the story presented here is the extensive correspondence between Wittgensteins literary heirs: Rush Rhees, Georg Henrik von Wright and Elizabeth Anscombe. I have had the good fortune to study these fascinating documents of philosophical inheritance for more than ten years. I wish all young scholars a similarly rich adventure in reading and research.