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Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus by Ludwig Wittgenstein
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Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

by Ludwig Wittgenstein

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1,558172,113 (4.21)19
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Showing 1-5 of 15 (next | show all)
Could make little sense of this one.
  supersnake | Sep 30, 2009 |
Most puzzling and thoroughly lost to logic, devilishly daunting yet refreshing and relieving. An uneasy masterpiece. ( )
  YagamiLight | May 12, 2009 |
Really challenging and amazing that he wrote the whole thing while being shot at as a soldier in WW1! ( )
  jonathon.hodge | Apr 24, 2009 |
If we accept (what seems to be?) Wittgenstein's conclusion that the ultimate truths of philosophy are inexpressible, ineffable truths which cannot be put into words, then the most any philosophical work can be is a flawed account which nonetheless can, when we reflect upon it (by recognizing the points where it is mistaken, for example), point us in the right direction. While I suppose the writings of every philosopher from Plato to Putnam is capable of doing this, some make the process easier than others, adequately discouraging us from falling into the trap of fundamentalism, of taking what they say (or seem to say) too seriously. Alongside Nietzsche (whom Wittgenstein admired) and Derrida as masters of this technique, the early Wittgenstein has clearly more than earned his place.

The Tractatus is at least as much a poem as it is philosophy, although Wittgenstein clearly would have denied any hard-and-fast distinction between the two types of writing. Wittgenstein moves from theories of language in the first few sections of the book into examinations of mysticism and religion, leading the reader to the understanding that everything Wittgenstein has said or could say about metaphysics must be nonsense, but at the same to a type of spiritual enlightenment, even if the subsequent understanding of the relationship between humans, God, language, and the world cannot be put into words. ( )
1 vote Alixtii | Aug 18, 2008 |
Interesting and stark, it showcases the mathematical background of the author quite well. Too bad that later in life, W. himself recanted what he put forth in terms of metaphysics and language via this book.
  heina | Mar 5, 2008 |
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Series (with order)
Canonical Title
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Awards and honors
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
1. The world is all that is the case.
Quotations
6.54 My propositions are elucidatory in this way: he who understands me finally recognizes them as senseless, when he has climbed out through them, on them, over them. (He must so to speak throw away the ladder, after he has climbed up on it.) He must transcend these propositions, and then he will see the world aright.
6.53 The correct method in philosophy would really be the following: to say nothing except what can be said, i.e. propositions of natural science--i.e. something that has nothing to do with philosophy--and then, whenever someone else wanted to say something metaphysical, to demonstrate to him that he had failed to give a meaning to certain signs in his propositions. Although it would not be satisfying to the other person--he would not have the feeling that we were teaching him philosophy--this method would be the only strictly correct one.
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
The original German title was “Logisch-Philosophische Abhandlung”.
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Canonical titleTractatus Logico-Philosophicus
Original publication date1921 (original German), 1922 (first English translation by Odden), 1961 (English translation by Pears and McGuinness)
People/CharactersBertrand Russell, Gottlob Frege, Immanuel Kant
First words1. The world is all that is the case.
Quotations6.54 My propositions are elucidatory in this way: he who understands me finally recognizes them as senseless, when he has climbed out through them, on them, over them. (He must so to speak throw away the ladder, after he has ... (show all)
Last words(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Book description

Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0415254086, Paperback)

Perhaps the most important work of philosophy written in the twentieth century, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus was the only philosophical work that Ludwig Wittgenstein published during his lifetime. Written in short, carefully numbered paragraphs of extreme brilliance, it captured the imagination of a generation of philosophers. For Wittgenstein, logic was something we use to conquer a reality which is in itself both elusive and unobtainable. He famously summarized the book in the following words: 'What can be said at all can be said clearly; and what we cannot talk about we must pass over in silence.' David Pears and Brian McGuinness received the highest praise for their meticulous translation. The work is prefaced by Bertrand Russell's original introduction to the first English edition.

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:03 -0400)

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