Ludwig Wittgenstein. Vienna edition. Vol. 6. Pocket notebooks 1931–32. Remarks. Edited by Michael Nedo. (Ludwig Wittgenstein. Wiener Ausgabe. Band 6. Taschennotizbücher 1931–32. Anmerkungen.) (German. English introduction) Zbl 1530.01045

Wittgenstein, Ludwig

Frankfurt am Main: Vittorio Klostermann (ISBN 978-3-465-03337-0/hbk). xiii, 192 p. (2022).

This is a critical edition of L.Wittgenstein’s pocket notebooks MS 153a, MS 153b, MS 155 and MS 154 from his literary estate. Wittgenstein used to jot down his daily thoughts in small notebooks, which grew into the manuscript volumes I to V. He apparently destroyed these notebooks after the fair copies were made. F.Ramsey was involved in the care of these notebooks. After his death in January 1931, Wittgenstein changed this practice. The notebooks that preceded manuscript volumes VI to IX still exist and are published in this edition. They differ from the other notebooks listed in the Nachlass catalogue in the more mature character of the material. They provide an opportunity to access the development of Wittgenstein’s thought in statu nascendi. The only notebook with a title (“Anmerkungen”) is the first and most extensive. The subjects dealt with are very varied, mostly semantic. Topics include the notion of rule, the infinity of number series, and the notion of proof. In his bilingual edition, the editor gives the context of these notebooks and their relation to the collections of Wittgenstein’s literary estate.

Reviewer: Volker Peckhaus (Paderborn)

MSC:

01A75	Collected or selected works; reprintings or translations of classics
00A30	Philosophy of mathematics
03-03	History of mathematical logic and foundations
03A05	Philosophical and critical aspects of logic and foundations

Keywords:

Wittgenstein’s literary estate; semantics; rule following; proof; infinity