On the Origin and Compilation of ‘Cause and Effect: Intuitive Awareness’

Abstract

This paper scrutinises the relation between ‘Cause and Effect: Intuitive Awareness’ and the source text, MS 119. There are two reasons that necessitate this task; first, ‘Cause and Effect’ omits an entry that is of crucial importance to Wittgenstein’s philosophising as it developed in the late 1930s. Second, the source text enhances our understanding of the role and purpose of at least two long passages in ‘Cause and Effect’. An elaboration of both these points improves our understanding of ‘Cause and Effect’ in particular and emphasises the need and necessity for transparent editorial procedures in editing Wittgenstein’s Nachlass in general.