WAB - The Wittgenstein Archives
The Wittgenstein Archives at the University of Bergen (WAB) is an international research infrastructure (RI) dedicated to the philosophy and writings of Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951). Operating via both its physical facility in Bergen and a dynamic online platform, WAB provides global access to Wittgenstein’s philosophical Nachlass. WAB works at the cutting edge of the digital humanities, bridging philosophy, biography, and editorial philology with semantic technologies and the application of AI.
About
WAB’s physical facility in Bergen provides researchers with a workplace and access to a comprehensive collection of primary and secondary sources. Primary sources include editions of Wittgenstein's works and key archival materials such as the Cornell microfilm paper copy and the Helsinki edition of the Philosophical Investigations, alongside full-color printouts of the Bergen Nachlass Edition facsimiles. Secondary sources include an extensive library of scholarly books and articles, featuring specialized collections from the personal libraries of Brian McGuinness (1927–2019) and Kjell S. Johannessen (1936-2025). Beyond its physical resources, visitors value WAB and the Department of Philosophy as a vibrant intellectual hub for discussing work-in-progress across Wittgenstein studies, editorial philology, text encoding, and the digital humanities.
WAB’s online research infrastructure features the Bergen Nachlass Edition (BNE) on Wittgenstein Source and in interactive dynamic edition and presentation format (IDP). Advanced discovery tools include Wittgenstein SFB, a semantic, faceted search and browsing interface. Additionally, the platform hosts experimental tools to support developing digital scholarship, such as Wittgenstein tailored chatbots and a continuously growing Wittgenstein ontology in RDF/OWL format.
- Incoming research visits (1990-)
- Intelex online version of Bergen Electronic Edition (2000)
- Bergen Nachlass Edition (BNE) on Wittgenstein Source (2015-)
- Bergen Nachlass Edition (BNE) in interactive dynamic edition and presentation format (IDP, 2016-)
- Wittgenstein scholarly resources repository (2014)
- SPARQL endpoint for Wittgenstein ontology (2012-)
- Wittgenstein chatbot (2024-, currently access restricted)
- Gateway to WAB Wittgenstein Nachlass activities
- Gateway to WAB Wittgenstein Nachlass online resources
Major WAB RI driven projects (2000-)
- Wittgenstein chatbot (2024-)
- University of Bergen research infrastructure support (UiB WAB RI (external link), 2021-24)
- Common Language Resources and Technology Infrastructure Norway plus (CLARINO+ (external link), 2020-29)
- Wittgenstein and Democratic Politics (Poland NSC (external link), 2019-23)
- New Wittgenstein Nachlass facsimile (Nachlass facsimile (external link), 2014-)
- Semantic faceted search and browsing of the Wittgenstein domain (SFB (external link), 2012-)
- Wittgenstein in Co-Text (external link) (incl. WiTTFind (external link), 2011-)
- Wittgenstein Source (external link) (2009-)
- Wittgenstein ontology (external link) (2006-)
- HyperWittgenstein and Interactive Dynamic Presentation (IDP (external link), 2004-)
- New Bergen Electronic Edition (BEE (external link), 2000-)
- Common Language Resources and Technology Infrastructure Norway (Clarino (external link), 2012-16)
- Digitised Manuscripts to Europeana (DM2E (external link), 2012-14)
- Digitale fulltekstarkiv (DF (external link), 2012-14)
- Scholarly Open Access Research in European Philosophy (Agora (external link), 2011-14)
- Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations: Re-Evaluating a Project (PI (external link), 2010-12)
- Joint Nordic Use of WAB Bergen and VWA Helsinki (JNU VWAB (external link), 2008-11)
- Open Scholarly Communities on the Web (COST A32 (external link), 2006-10)
- Digital Semantic Corpora for Virtual Research in Philosophy (Discovery (external link), 2006-09)
- Culture and Value Revisited (CV (external link), 2006-08)
- Using XML to generate research tools for Wittgenstein scholars by collaborative groupwork (XML (external link), 2002-03)
- Trans-national Access to European Research Infrastructure Wittgenstein Archives at the University of Bergen (EU ARI WAB (external link), 2002-04)
Recommended reading
- (2023) A. Pichler: Interactive Dynamic Presentation (IDP) and Semantic Faceted Search and Browsing (SFB) of the Wittgenstein Nachlass (external link). In: Wittgenstein-Studien 14/1, pp. 131-151.
- (2019) A. Pichler: A brief update on editions offered by the Wittgenstein Archives at the University of Bergen and licences for their use (as of June 2018) (external link). In: Wittgenstein-Studien 10/1, pp. 139-146.
- (2005) A. Pichler: “Wittgenstein’s Nachlass: Situating the Bergen Electronic Edition”. In: Ludwig Wittgenstein and Analytic Philosophy. Ed. M. Stoicheva. Sofia: QUTU 2005. pp. 12-21.
- (2004) C. Huitfeldt: “Editorial Principles of Wittgenstein’s Nachlass: The Bergen Electronic Edition”. In: Augmenting Comprehension: Digital Tools and the History of Ideas. Ed. Dino Buzzetti, Giuliano Pancaldi, Harold Short. London: Office for Humanities Communication Publication 17. pp. 113-127.
- (2002) A. Pichler: “Encoding Wittgenstein. Some remarks on Wittgenstein’s Nachlass, the Bergen Electronic Edition, and future electronic publishing and networking”. In: TRANS. Internet-Zeitschrift für Kulturwissenschaften 10 (http://www.inst.at/trans/10Nr/pichler10.htm (external link)).
- (1994) C. Huitfeldt: “Toward a Machine-Readable Version of Wittgenstein’s Nachlaß”. In: Philosophische Editionen. Erwartungen an sie - Wirkungen durch sie. Ed. Hans Gerhard Senger. Beihefte zu editio 6. pp. 37-43.
People
Leadership
Alois Pichler Director
Team
Alois Pichler R & D
Heinz Wilhelm Krüger R & D
Kirsten Bang Administration (associated)
Tone Merete Bruvik Technical support (associated)
Øyvind Liland Gjesdal Technical support (associated)
Rune Jensen Falch R & D (associated)
Claus Huitfeldt R & D (associated)
Filippo Mosca R & D (associated)
Joseph Wang-Kathrein R & D (associated)
Contact
Postal address: The Wittgenstein Archives at the University of Bergen, Department of Philosophy, University of Bergen, Postboks 7800, 5020 BERGEN, Norway
Physical location: Sydnesplassen 12-13, 5020 BERGEN, Norway
- Phone number
- +4755589474
- Emails
- alois.pichler@fof.uib.no