Text

MS 145

C1

 

General note on C1-8

The so-called C-series of notebooks comprises 8 notebooks. The only reasons why these notebooks were grouped together (not by Wittgenstein himself, but by the trustees of his papers) seem to be the following: they are the same size, they contain the same number of pages (96), and they date back to the same period of Wittgenstein’s work (1933-36). The order (1 to 8) is more or less in accord with the chronological order in which they were written.

            Even though it is tempting to associate “C” with Cambridge, no real reason for this name is known. The association with Cambridge is particularly tempting in view of the fact that several of these notebooks contain material written in preparation of Wittgenstein’s classes or dictations. But there is no evidence whatsoever that the name “C” was used by Wittgenstein himself.

 

C1 was used while working on the ‘first’ revision of the Big Typescript (= TS 213 plus handwritten modifications and supplementary material) as begun in MS 114ii. (For the ‘second’ revision, see MS 140.) The first page of our notebook is dated 14 October 1933. The process of revision can be followed with relative ease from p. 4v (one remark on which corresponds to a remark on p. 181 of MS 114ii,) all the way down to p. 47v, where one remark can be seen to correspond to MS 114ii, p. 228. On the last page (48v), however, there is one remark corresponding to a remark on p. 3 of MS 115i.

            The remaining remarks (some of which were later collected in Vermischte Bemerkungen / Culture and Value) may be assumed to be written at the same time, that is, towards the end of 1933.