Naked, please!: Elizabeth Anscombe as translator and editor of Wittgenstein

This chapter discusses Elizabeth Anscombe’s work as translator and editor of Wittgenstein’s writings. I provide information about what she did and what she said about it – a central source for this is her unpublished correspondence with fellow literary executor G.H. von Wright – and discuss the possible philosophical significance of her translating and editorial choices. Sections 2-3 are devoted to Anscombe’s role as translator. Section 4 characterises her general approach to editing Wittgenstein, with her ideal of ‘naked editions’ and ‘minimum editing’. Sections 5-6 briefly look at two case studies, the controversial ‘Part II’ of Philosophical Investigations and the editing of Wittgenstein’s last writings from 1949-51. Sections 7-8 discuss the suppression of the coded entries in Wittgenstein’s Notebooks 1914-1916.