More on Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

 Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus by Ludwig Wittgenstein, Translated by C.K. Ogden, Introduction by Bertrand Russell. Copyright 1922 (now in public domain): Published by Cosmo Classics: New York. ISBN: 978-1-61640-237-2.


I first came across this little tract when an English teacher in college recommended it in 1975. He offered that it was a very difficult read and it definitely was and then some. But after several readings over a seven-year period it became much more comprehensible to me. The effort was so worth it. It now has a permanent spot on my bookshelf. Any writer or anyone else that has a philosophical interest in words and communication should try reading this tract. 

From the Introduction by Bertrand Russell

"Mr. Wittgenstein's (tract), whether or not it proves to give the ultimate truth on the matters with which it deals, certainly deserves, by its breadth and scope and profundity, to be considered an important event in the philosophical world. Starting from the principles of Symbolism and the relations which are necessary between worlds and things in any language, it applies the result of this inquiry to various departments of traditional philosophy, showing in each case how traditional philosophy, showing in each case how traditional philosophy and traditional solutions arise out of ignorance of the principles of Symbolism and out of misuse of language.

"The logical structure of propositions and the nature of logical inference are first dealt with. Thence we pass successfully to Theory of Knowledge, Principles of Physics, Ethics, and finally the Mystical.

From the Preface by Wittgenstein

"This book will perhaps only be understood by those who have themselves already thought the thoughts which are expressed in it - or similar thoughts. It is therefore not a textbook. Its object would be attained if it afforded pleasure to one who read it with understanding. 

"The book deals with the problems of philosophy and shows, as I believe, that the method of formulating these problems rests on the misunderstanding of the logic of our language. Its whole meaning could be summed up somewhat as follows: What can be said at all can be said clearly; and whereof one cannot speak thereof one must be silent.

"the book will, therefore, draw a limit to thinking, or rather - not to thinking, but to the expression of thoughts; for, in order to draw a limit to thinking we should have to be able to think both sides of this limit (we should therefore have to be able to think what cannot be thought).

"The limit can, therefore, only be drawn in language and what lies on the other side of the limit will be simply nonsense.

"How far my efforts agree with those of other philosophers I will not decide. Indeed, what I have here written makes no claim to novelty in points of detail; and therefore, I give no sources, because it is indifferent to me whether what I have thought has already been thought before me by another."




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