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The Ludwig Wittgenstein Project is a multilingual website whose aim is to make Ludwig Wittgenstein’s published writings which are now out of copyright available free of charge and with a free licence.
Ludwig Wittgenstein, who is widely regarded as one of the most important philosophers of the 20th century, published very little during his lifetime. When he died, in 1951, he left behind approximately 20,000 pages of handwritten or typewritten manuscripts, his so-called Nachlass ("estate"). Most of what we now refer to as Wittgenstein's "works" were published posthumously and are the result of the editorial work performed by his appointed literary executors—Rush Rhees, G.E.M. Anscombe, and G.H. von Wright.
Excellent academic resources have existed for many years which provide a transcription of the Nachlass (see the Wittgenstein Archives at the University of Bergen’s Interactive Dynamic Presentation tool) and even scans of Wittgenstein's manuscripts (see Wittgenstein Source). These documents are very helpful for researchers who need to dive into the depths of Wittgenstein, but they are difficult to approach for the general public.
Rather than on the Nachlass itself, the Ludwig Wittgenstein Project focuses on those among Wittgenstein’s writings that were published as books or articles, whether in his lifetime or after his death (in the latter case, with some degree of intervention by the editors). In other words, the Ludwig Wittgenstein Project aims to be a repository of high-quality digital "reading editions" and its target audience is broader than just scholars and specialists, as it also includes students and members of the general public who have an interest in philosophy but do not necessarily have prior knowledge of Wittgenstein's work.
Consequently, the multilingual nature of the Ludwig Wittgenstein Project is core to its vision and mission. Original-language editions are available on our website as well as translations and both are part of our effort to make Wittgenstein's philosophy more accessible to all, including those who do not speak German or English. Please see the All texts page for an up-to-date list.
In summary, the Ludwig Wittgenstein Project provides complete, well-formatted, downloadable, free books in multiple languages. Our purpose is to remove the paywall that stands between the prospective reader and the texts and to make the texts available to anyone who cannot access a library.
Wittgenstein’s originals, as well as some of the translations, are in the public domain in most countries (see Copyright below), while the translations that were purpose-made for this site are available under Creative Commons Attribution or Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike. You will find more specific information in the individual page of each work.
The Ludwig Wittgenstein Project is a not-for-profit endeavour. It was started in late 2020 by Michele Lavazza and is currently run by a growing international community.
Haus Wittgenstein, Vienna. Photo by Aldo Ernstbrunner CC BY-SA.
Copyright
The Ludwig Wittgenstein Project, like most internet-based free culture projects and in particular the Wikimedia Projects, follows the principle of only publishing material that is free in its own Country of origin (as defined by the Berne Convention) and in the Country in which the website is based (legal registration, location of the servers).
Originals
Wittgenstein’s own writings are in the public domain in those Countries where rights expire 70 years or fewer after the death of the author. They are therefore out of copyright in most of the European Union, most of Africa, Asia and Oceania, most Latin American Countries and Canada. (The Ludwig Wittgenstein Project is based in Italy.) When a work is in the public domain, it can be used, shared, distributed, sold, translated, and remixed with no restrictions and without having to ask for permission, although some rights may still apply.
Most of Wittgenstein’s writings are also in the public domain in the United Kingdom, where, as a general rule, copyright expires 70 years after the author’s death. British law grants extended copyright protection to some posthumous works, depending on the date they were first published and on the time interval between the death of the author and the first publication. This, however, does not affect any of the texts published on this website.
In other Countries, including but not limited to the United States of America, the author of a work having been dead for more than 70 years is not a sufficient condition for determining its copyright status.
To learn more about this topic, please see the essay The copyright status of Wittgenstein’s works.
It is your responsibility to comply with the laws of your Country by making sure that a given text is in the public domain there before accessing it or downloading it. Please be aware that if the rights relating to the original text have not expired in your Country, using a translation is not allowed either.
Some of the writings by Wittgenstein which appeared posthumously underwent extensive editing before being published in book form. These may still be copyrighted because of a further "layer" of rights connected to the creative nature of the editors’ elaboration of the manuscripts. To know more about this issue and about the Ludwig Wittgenstein Project’s policy in relation to it, please see the essay Why are some of Wittgenstein’s texts missing from this website?
Translations
Some of the translations available on this site are in the public domain in those Countries where rights expire 70 years or fewer after the death of the author (see § Originals above).
Most of them, however, have been made on purpose by The Ludwig Wittgenstein Project: these are available under Creative Commons Attribution or Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike. This means that they can be used, remixed, distributed free of charge, without having to ask for permission, even for commercial purposes, provided that credit is given by indicating the name of the translator and The Ludwig Wittgenstein Project (a link to the website is appreciated); in the case of works released under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike, it is also required that any derivative work be distributed under the same licence as the original.
The Ludwig Wittgenstein Project has also published non-free translations. In these cases, The Ludwig Wittgenstein Project was granted permission by the rights owners to publish a digital edition of the text and make it accessible free of charge while its copyright status (“all rights reserved”) remained unchanged.
Resources
The following map may help you to determine the copyright status of a work in your Country, although in many cases it is not sufficient alone.
The Wikimedia Commons page on copyright rules by territory provides a more thorough guide to the subject.
If you are based in the United States, the specific Commons page and the Hirtle Chart may be useful to you.
Further reading
- What is a Free Cultural Work?
- Free as in freedom, free as in free beer
- A conversation with Michele Lavazza about the Ludwig Wittgenstein Project (archived)
- Una conversazione con Michele Lavazza a proposito del Ludwig Wittgenstein Project (archived)
- Come stiamo rendendo disponibili a tutti le opere di Wittgenstein (archived)
