Discussion 11 December 2020: WORD BOOK Wittgenstein’s Wörterbuch für Volksschulen in English
Friday, 11 December 2020, 17:30 GMT (18:30 CET)
ARTISTS’ RESPONSE TO WITTGENSTEIN
Part 1
WORD BOOK
Wittgenstein’s Wörterbuch für Volksschulen in English
Livestream Discussion Panel from 17:30 GMT, Q&A starting at 18:30 GMT on the Wittgenstein Initiative YouTube channel. The video recording will be later permanently available.
Please pay attention to your time zone when scheduling the chat!
Carla Carmona Escalera (Universidad de Sevilla)
Bettina Funcke (Art historian, New York)
James Klagge (Virginia Tech, Philosophy)
Désirée Weber (The College of Wooster)
In 1925, Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote a dictionary for elementary school children. His Wörterbuch für Volksschulen (Dictionary for Elementary Schools) was designed to help his students learn to spell. Wittgenstein began teaching kids in rural Austria in 1920, after abandoning his life and work at Cambridge University.
Word Book is the first-ever English translation of Wörterbuch. This publication aims to encourage and reinvigorate interest in one of the greatest modern philosophers by introducing this gem of a work to a wider audience. Word Book also explores how Wörterbuch portends Wittgenstein’s radical reinvention of his own philosophy and the enduring influence his thinking holds over how art, culture and language are understood.
Word Book is translated by writer and art historian Bettina Funcke, with a critical introduction by scholar Désirée Weber, and accompanied with art by Paul Chan.
