Originally published in 1921, Wittgenstein’s Tractatus has given rise to a vast and important body of commentary, in which exegetical considerations and philosophical positions are intertwined. G. E. M. Anscombe’s 1959 book,  An Introduction to Wittgenstein’s Tractatus, is a milestone in the history of Wittgensteinian scholarship: by highlighting the Fregean legacy and distinguishing Wittgenstein’s early work from the empiricist and the positivist traditions, it initiated what could be called the modern age of Wittgensteinian scholarship. The Wittgenstein before Anscombe Conference (WbA) is devoted to the study of early, pre-modern receptions of Early Wittgenstein that have been overshadowed by the success of Anscombe’s Introduction.

There are at least three reasons to visit or revisit these early receptions.  

1. The reference to Anscombe in Wittgensteinian studies, namely to the questions she raised and the answers she gave, tends to restrict the range of possible readings of the Tractatus. Returning to the period before Anscombe gives us the means to rid ourselves of unquestioned alternatives and to explore different ways of understanding the Tractatus. 

2. History of analytic philosophy is a rather young discipline in which the methods routinely used in the history of philosophy have not yet found their place. Because it is still marked by a strong presentism (according to which the role of history is to explain the present rather than to deconstrctu the categories through which we understand it), the history of analytic philosophy tends to focus on sources and to neglect receptions. The WbA Conference offers to reverse this pattern.

3. Analytic philosophy is commonly perceived as an Anglo-American movement that has benefited from some German and Austrian contributors before WWII. By contrast, WbA aims to highlight new territories in which Wittgenstein’s thought was discussed, hybridized, and criticized early on (such as France, India, and China). WbA hence contributes to a global history of emerging analytic philosophy.