The complete correspondence of Wittgenstein

I. Description of Project: As in the case of the preliminary project (PO9391-HIS Wittgenstein Correspondence 1, P11220-HIS Wittgenstein Correspondence 1-3) the object of this project is to produce a machine readable master manuscript of Ludwig Wittgenstein`s Correspondence including transcription and scholarly commentary both with respect to individual letters and the correspondence as such in its historical context. II. The Problem to Be Addressed/The State of Research/Results of the Preliminary Project: Since application was made for the preliminary project the number of letters to and from Wittgenstein has increased substantially. At the moment the material basis of the project consists of some 1923 - in the course of the preliminary project two collections of letters have appeared, the "Family Letters" and the "Cambridge Letters". These two collections differ considerably both with respect to form and number from the mode to presentation developed in the preliminary project and to be employed in the proposed project. The main technical difference between the recent editions and the master manuscript bears upon the fact that a data bank has been created for the purpose of registering information from the letters which in turn becomes the basis for systematically commenting upon them. To this end and also with a view to establishing reliable dating of the letters a chronology of Wittgenstein`s life has been developed, which is in fact the most detailed documentation of his biography to date. Concerning the results of the preliminary project and the state of research it must be pointed out that some five complete sets of correspondence with individuals with commentary are in preparation for publication. Two are nearly finished: Wittgenstein`s correspondence with Rudolf Koder and Paul Engelmann and another three are in an advanced state of preparation: the letters bearing upon the "Tractatus", the correspondence with his Norwegian acquaintances, and that with Rush Rhees. III. Project Goal: The continuity in Wittgenstein`s life and work as well as their embeddedness in their cultural context should be completely documented on the basis of the entire correspondence (and his journals). From the exact philological study of the correspondence Wittgenstein`s specific mode of thought as a letter writer - as opposed to his mode of philosophizing - should be established. IV. Methodology, Timetable, Work Schedule: The program "Folio Views", which is particularly suitable for managing large quantities of data efficiently, will be used for the transcription and commentary on the correspondence as it is in the Wittgenstein Archives at the University of Bergen in Norway. A period of three years will be necessary in order to develop this data bank fully. To facilitate that it will also be necessary to employ part- time assistance for collating that material (this has been calculated into the budget). Of the five volumes of individual correspondence two should appear in 1999, one in 2000 and two others in 2001. In the proposed period of the project the whole data bank will be prepared for a CD-ROM publication by Oxford University Press, which is publishing the machine-readable version of the philosophical papers being prepared in Bergen.

The basic goal of the project was "to make the continuity between Wittgenstein`s life and work recognizable on the basis of his correspondence". This goal was realized on the basis of a digitalized version of the complete correspondence, which currently comprises some 2302 letters from and to Wittgenstein, with various forms of accompanying commentary. "Proof of said continuity", as the premises upon which the project was built, has been achieved even if the commentaries are not complete. Meanwhile it has become also clear that the process of commentary is in principle without end. New constellations can always be discovered, which make the aforementioned continuity clearer unto its minute details. However, the project can be concluded preliminarily and publication of the existing collection with InteLex can proceed even if the definitive conclusion will only be possible in 2021 when the 150 letter to Ben Richards, currently under lock and key in the Austrian National Library, can be incorporated into the databank. Happily electronic publication permits such a procedure. The databank with the complete correspondence was constructed with the program "Folio Views" and the technical possibilities it offers. As far as the philology of the edition goes, i.e., the transcription and commentary goes, the project has benefited from the extensive experience developed in the Brenner Archives over the years in many editions of correspondence. This "know how" has been enhanced by the new possibilities that the electronic medium offers, which compliment the strengths of the traditional methods of the Brenner Archives. Besides the tried and true methods of commentary upon single entries (names, dates, etc.) and on longer passages or episode (Flächenkommentar), a new emphasis has been places on indices as vehicles of commentary (chronology, index of places named, index of short biographies, index of Wittgenstein `s reading) and fields. The Brenner Archives` typical approach to cultural history has determined this development in the art of commentary, which has been developed with much effort. This method of connecting individual facts to cultural developments is based upon the methods developed in Walter Methlagl`s book Kulturgeschichtliche Bodenproben (Ground Specimens of Cultural History, Innsbruck, Haymon, 2002). The project is based upon extensive international co-operation. Brian McGuinness, professor emeritus of philosophy of the University of Siena, has been particularly helpful in providing the project with hitherto unknown letters. In September 1999 Prof. McGuinness presented the Brenner archives with copies of 350 new, completely unknown letters. The long co-operation with the Wittgenstein Archives at Bergen University in Norway, where the electronic edition of Wittgenstein`s philosophical papers has been produced, has also been very important, especially in methodological matters. No less important has been the participation of the electronic publisher InteLex in Charlottesville, Va., USA, with whom a contract was signed in August 2000. With the help of these partners the Brenner Archives has established a "sort of monopoly on research into Wittgenstein`s correspondence" as a recent article in the Viennese newspaper Der Standard put it (2.10.2001).