Wittgenstein Archives at the University of Bergen (WAB): Open Access to Wittgenstein's Nachlass

XML based Interactive Dynamic Presentation (IDP) of WAB's Nachlass transcriptions

With this interactive site, you can access WAB's transcriptions of the Wittgenstein Nachlass. Moreover, you can apply a selection of filters and presentation modes to the transcriptions and, for example, filter the Nachlass texts according to Wittgenstein's "section marks" ("Randzeichen"), include or omit the section marks themselves, include or omit handwritten additions in typescripts, combine diplomatic and normalized parameters, or order the remarks of a text chronologically. The latter can be relevant for items where the physical and chronological text sequence don't coincide; this is for example the case already in the very first item, World War I diary Ms-101.

Wittgenstein wrote mostly in German, but there are also items with large parts or entirely in English: MSS 139a and 139b (both Lecture on Ethics), 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 158, 159, 160, 161, 166 (Notes for the Philosophical Lecture), 181 (Privacy of Sense Data), 301 (Notes dictated to Moore); TSS 201a1 and 201a2 (both Notes on Logic), 207 (Lecture on Ethics), 226, 247, 309 (Blue Book), 310 (Brown Book). Well-known items in German language include MSS 101-103 (World War I diaries), 104 (Prototractatus), 142 (Philosophische Untersuchungen), TSS 202, 203, 204 (all three Logisch-Philosophische Abhandlung), 213 (Big Typescript), 220, 227a, 227b, 239 (all four Philosophische Untersuchungen).

In order to access the transcriptions, simply use the drop-down menu under "Select a Nachlass item" below and pick your preferred item. To begin with, we suggest that you simply accept the default settings (= normalized parameters) and end the selection process by clicking the "ok" button at the bottom of the page. The site will shortly display the transcription of the item you selected in HTML format, and according to the parameters selected.

Note that the transcriptions may contain mistakes and that especially the rendering of graphics as well as of logical and mathematical notation needs completion and improvement. Items marked + have undergone some systematic proofreading since the publication of the Bergen Electronic Edition (2000). Some global corrections and improvements have however also been carried out in other items. We are grateful for any communication of transcription mistakes. Equally note that not all technical features are working yet, including hyperlinks to Wittgenstein Source (2009-) in cases where the facsimile linked to is not yet available on the Wittgenstein Source site, and that different browsers may render the same HTML content differently or even faultily. We have noticed that especially Internet Explorer is not consistent in the display of format features, e.g. underlining.

The texts are made available by permission of The Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge and the University of Bergen, Bergen, and in agreement with Oxford University Press with whom WAB cooperates towards a new Bergen Electronic Edition. Please pay special attention to the fact that only the items marked with "WS" are made available under the CCPL BY-NC-SA license. For all other items standard copyright regulations and permission restrictions apply. Copyright holders: The Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge; The University of Bergen, Bergen.

This site had a precursor in the Using XML to generate research tools for Wittgenstein scholars by collaborative groupwork project (2002-03) where interactive dynamic presentation was applied to a part of Wittgenstein Nachlass item Ms-101. With the Discovery (2006-09) and COST Action A32 (2006-10) projects, further items amounting to approx. 5000 pages were included. These items constituted the beginning of Wittgenstein Source; in the drop-down menu they are marked with "WS". Since May 27, 2016, the site offers access to all of WAB's transcriptions of the Wittgenstein Nachlass, always with the most recent corrections and improvements included. An important part of the programming for the site was produced within the Norwegian Clarino project. For the site's maintenance and further development, WAB cooperates with the Section for Digital Services at the University of Bergen University Library.

Please acknowledge use of the site in the following way: Wittgenstein, Ludwig (2002-): Interactive Dynamic Presentation (IDP) of WAB's transcriptions of the Wittgenstein Nachlass [http://wab.uib.no/transform/wab.php?modus=opsjoner]. Ed. Alois Pichler. Bergen: WAB. Citations should be made with reference to the Bergen Electronic Edition (2000) or the Wittgenstein Source Bergen Nachlass Edition (2009-).

If you are interested in WAB's underlying XML encoding of the Nachlass, you can find slightly simplified samples here.

For questions and comments write to Alois Pichler.