Wittgenstein to Sraffa: Two Newly-discovered Letters from February and March 1934

Abstract

This paper introduces and publishes two letters from 1934 written by Wittgenstein to Sraffa. The first of these confirms that on the one hand Wittgenstein and Sraffa had communicative difficulties. On the other hand Wittgenstein acknowledged the strength of Sraffa’s thinking and he was aware of being positively influenced by it. The second longer letter is part of a debate between Wittgenstein and Sraffa that had been ongoing in the few weeks preceding the letter. In the letter, Wittgenstein tried to clarify and review in part his thinking on the points he discussed during the debate.

Sraffa, Hume, and Wittgenstein’s Lectures On Belief

“…The editors of the lectures signal parallels amongst the sentence "that there are experiences characteristic of expectation doesn't mean there is any element in common to all the experiences we call characteristic of expectation" and Wittgenstein's remarks dating back to 1934-1936, and also amongst the sentence "there are an infinite number of ways of uttering belief, corresponding to an enormous number of feelings going along with belief" and remarks the first of which dates back to 1933/1934 (WCL 205: n. 10).…”