Introduction

The title of this Introduction comes from an idea advanced by Denis Paul in his lifelong study of Wittgenstein, according to which “the entire 1929–1951 corpus was a composite work of art”. ¹ To say this is too strong a claim. The later Wittgenstein is essentially known as the author of several publications edited by his trustees and, notwithstanding the criticism of some editorial decisions, none of these publications would seem to fall under the category of an artistic work. However, Paul does not ignore the fact that there are many items in this part of the Nachlass that do not hang together, nor does he look at Wittgenstein as an artist. His suggestion is that behind the various philosophical texts left by Wittgenstein is a literary project which occupied him for more than twenty years. Paul is keen to emphasize that “Wittgenstein did not plan this composite work of art in advance”, but that “[i]t just grew”. ² Wittgenstein wrote indeed about a multitude of subjects and in many formats, from diary-like entries to extensively revised statements. Even when his remarks went through complicated stages of revision, plenty of them were eventually abandoned and others retrieved. It is from these breakthroughs and setbacks that the Philosophical Investigations emerge as the nearest outcome of Wittgenstein’s longing to write a second book after the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus.