Michele Lavazza | The Ludwig Wittgenstein Project. New possibilities for Wittgenstein’s texts online

Michele Lavazza: “The Ludwig Wittgenstein Project – New possibilities for Wittgenstein’s texts online”, 8 October 2022.

This presentation was a part of the 7th Symposium of the International Ludwig Wittgenstein Society, “70 Years of Editing Wittgenstein. History, Challenges and Possibilities”, co-organised by the Ludwig Wittgenstein Project, hosted by the University of Milan, 7–8 October 2022.

Please note:

Those among the audience’s remarks or questions that were not asked using a microphone were transcribed by the LWP volunteers who edited this video. The responsibility for any errors or omissions is entirely ours.

Abstract:

The Workshop will focus on “Possibilities”. The Ludwig Wittgenstein Project (LWP) case study will be presented and participants will be encouraged to ask questions, raise objections and share proposals and ideas about the ways in which the LWP could be improved or could collaborate with similar existing projects.

Part 1 – Wittgenstein in the public domain

The LWP was launched at the beginning of 2022, when Wittgenstein’s works entered the public domain in most countries. It is common for the expiry of intellectual property rights to strongly influence an author’s editorial vicissitudes. In light of this, the copyright status of Wittgenstein’s writings will be discussed. Additionally, it will be argued in favour of the importance of what could be called “the enforcement of the public domain” and the goals of the LWP will be described.

Part 2 – Translations

The LWP is unlike similar projects aiming to make public-domain philosophical works available online in that it also publishes translations of Wittgenstein’s works and, often, original translations. From the editorial point of view, the publication of classics and their translations entails a set of risks and rewards, including financial, that is quite different from that of the publication of new books. It will be argued that it is somewhat unfair for publishers to profit for decades from low-risk translations that they pay for one time; it will also be argued that a new model could be introduced whereby translators do get paid as they would if they worked for a traditional publisher, but their work is then made available to the public for free.

Part 3 – The promises of technology

Making Wittgenstein’s published works available in electronic form brings along fascinating possibilities in terms both of accessibility and of digital manipulation potential. The steps that have already been taken by the LWP will be presented and some of the possibilities that lie ahead will be discussed, while seeking the audience’s input as to what the academic community feels would be particularly interesting or useful.

00:00 Intro
01:01 The goals of this workshop
03:44 Part 1 – Copyright and the (future) availability of Wittgenstein’s works
03:57 The purpose of copyright and the public domain
10:09 The copyright status of Wittgenstein’s works
1:06:50 The importance of the public domain and the goals of the LWP
1:14:19 Part 2 – The scope of the LWP: original texts and translations
1:16:35 A project that was born multilingual
1:17:47 To see a difference (the economics of translating a classic)
1:28:22 Where are we, and how did we get here?
1:30:36 Where do we go from here?
1:32:08 Part 3 – The promises of technology
1:32:23 What we already have
1:34:18 What do we need (or want)?
1:36:15 Discussion

Видео Michele Lavazza | The Ludwig Wittgenstein Project. New possibilities for Wittgenstein’s texts online канала The Ludwig Wittgenstein Project