Abstract

The paper deals with the question “What is a work by Wittgenstein?µ and suggests a number of indicators that are intended as complementary to Joachim Schulte’s three criteria for answering the question. The paper holds that at each point, when preparing a philosophical work for the reader, Wittgenstein aimed at giving this work a specific gestalt that was in full rapport with his philosophy at the time. This claim is exemplified with four of Wittgenstein’s philosophical works: the Tractatus, the Big Typescript, the Brown Book and the Investigations. The paper argues that the specific forms of these works – the ladder, the nested boxes, the gapless linear series and the album – were decisively inspired by Hertz, Frege, Spengler and Schopenhauer