The Date of Tractatus Beginning

Abstract

The question of Tractatus dating can be resolved through a historical-critical
analysis of the Prototractatus notebook. McGuinness’ reasons to poke the first part
of Prototractatus compilation between MS102 and MS103 notebooks, i.e. between June
1915 and March 1916, are not convincing; nevertheless, his dating suggestion is more
realistic than, for instance, Geschkowski’s last counterproposal. In the 1915 diary,
indeed, there is a passage that with all evidence points to Prototractatus page 12.
So I suggest emphasizing (and modifying) McGuinness’ suggestion in this way: the
starting pages of the Abhandlung do precede, and don’t follow, MS102 last entries.
This could definitively change the critics’ approach to Wittgenstein’s wartime
diaries.