Nuno Venturinha (ed.), Wittgenstein after His Nachlass
Reviewed by Oskari Kuusela, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, February 2, 2011.

Most readers of this newsletter are not Wittgenstein devotees - or really interested in the deeper philosophy generally - and I recognize that. Nonetheless I think all readers should be interested in this post. Not particularly for the review of this book, which discusses the later philosophy of Wittgenstein, specifically, that contained in his nachlass, the extensive collection of fragments, notes and index cards left after his death that constitute nearly the totality of his work. The editing and publication of this work in sdeveral voilumes - including Philosophical Investigations and On Certainty (one of my favorite books ever) has been the subject of much debate. Moreover, much of the work remained obscure to the public view. Enter the Wittgenstein Archives at the University of Bergen (WAB), which has published the Bergen Electronic Edition. It is the totality of Wittgenstein's nachlass, indexed and sorted, and available for public viewing online. You can view all the original manuscripts, but probably the best way into the collection is the Wittgenstein source page. All scholarship should be this open.

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The Rise of the New Global Elite
Chrystia Freeland, The Atlantic, February 2, 2011.

This is going to have to be fixed before education is fixed. Because education can't fix this: "the vast majority of U.S. workers, however devoted and skilled at their jobs, have missed out on the windfalls of this winner-take-most economy-or worse, found their savings, employers, or professions ravaged by the same forces that have enriched the plutocratic elite. The result of these divergent trends is a jaw-dropping surge in U.S. income inequality." Not just in the U.S., either - the article documents this as a global trend. And if it is this global elite that is increasingly in charge of education policy, what sort of system would one suppose they are interested in fostering? I would suggest: one that can be turned off. Realted: Don Tapscott in Davos.

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ASTD #TK11 Opening Keynote Tony Bingham
Cammy Bean, Cammy Bean's Learning Visions, February 2, 2011.

Cammy Bean is live-blogging ASTD's TK11 conference, beginning with notes on the opening keynote by Tony Bingham and continuing with another keynote by Kara Swisher. Looks like the crowd has the same issues it had ten years ago: "How do you guarantee the quality of the content when it's all user-generated?", "Privacy?", "When will desktop computers be dead?"

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purpose/ed
Doug Belshaw and Andy Stewart, Website, February 2, 2011.

Something called purpose/ed launched yesterday with an intro post to explore - not surprisingly - the purpose of education. I was in with a contribution today on the purpose of learning. Site organizers Doug Belshaw and Andy Stewart write "We're a non-partisan, location-independent organization aiming to kickstart a debate around the question: What's the purpose of education? With a 3-year plan, a series of campaigns, and a weekly newsletter we aim to empower people to get involved and make a difference in their neighbourhood, area and country."

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