MS 148

C4

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.

Most (but not all) of the notes in this manuscript book are in English. It seems that they were written in preparation for lectures given in the Easter Term of 1935 (cf. the account in Ambrose, Wittgenstein’s Lectures: Cambridge 1932-35, pp. 164-201). If this is correct, then, from a chronological point of view, C6 should probably be inserted between C3 and C4. (See the opening section of the published version “Notes for Lectures on ‘Private Experience’ and ‘Sense Data’”, Philosophical Occasions, pp. 202-226.)