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franchenstein's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
This was definitely just my first read of this book and I will need to come back many times to specific parts of it to say I have any understanding of it at all. So far, I have just a general grasp of parts of it.
My general impression is of at the same time reading a book on the fundamentals of logic and a book of cryptic mystical knowledge. Buried among descriptions of what are atomic facts, logic functions and truth tables, there are these nuggets of magical sayings about what god would have created, of what is the purpose of philosophy, of how the ethical and the aesthetical are both mystical.
And, better yet, these two things cross each other sometimes, when delimiting what can be logically said about the world and anything else should either be left unsaid or be charged with this mystical aura.
I have ambivalent feelings about the picture theory of language and the whole representational enterprise. It seems intuitive and useful, but ultimately backwards. Language is not essentially representational but when we attempt to analyse it and make it logical it's when it becomes representational.
These are just a few thoughts that crossed my mind. I'll have to come back to this book later and fully delve deep into its claims for better philosophical insight and critique of what Wittgenstein had to say.
My general impression is of at the same time reading a book on the fundamentals of logic and a book of cryptic mystical knowledge. Buried among descriptions of what are atomic facts, logic functions and truth tables, there are these nuggets of magical sayings about what god would have created, of what is the purpose of philosophy, of how the ethical and the aesthetical are both mystical.
And, better yet, these two things cross each other sometimes, when delimiting what can be logically said about the world and anything else should either be left unsaid or be charged with this mystical aura.
I have ambivalent feelings about the picture theory of language and the whole representational enterprise. It seems intuitive and useful, but ultimately backwards. Language is not essentially representational but when we attempt to analyse it and make it logical it's when it becomes representational.
These are just a few thoughts that crossed my mind. I'll have to come back to this book later and fully delve deep into its claims for better philosophical insight and critique of what Wittgenstein had to say.
kazimir's review against another edition
glimmers of understanding over a fog of dismay
is_book_loring's review against another edition
4.0
A metaphysical purge of the mind.
“What finds its reflection in language, language cannot represent.
What expresses itself in language, we cannot express by means of language.”
"That the world is my world, shows itself in the fact that the limits of the language (the language which only I understand) mean the limits of my world."
“The sense of the world must lie outside the world. In the world everything is as it is, and everything happens as it does happen: in it no value exists—and if it did exist, it would have no value. If there is any value that does have value, it must lie outside the whole sphere of what happens and is the case. For all that happens and is the case is accidental. What makes it non-accidental cannot lie within the world, since if it did it would itself be accidental. It must lie outside the world.”
The object of philosophy is the logical clarification of thoughts.
Philosophy is not a theory but an activity.
A philosophical work consists essentially of elucidations.
The result of philosophy is not a number of "philosophical propositions", but to make propositions clear.
Philosophy should make clear and delimit sharply the thoughts which otherwise are, as it were, opaque and blurred.”
“What finds its reflection in language, language cannot represent.
What expresses itself in language, we cannot express by means of language.”
"That the world is my world, shows itself in the fact that the limits of the language (the language which only I understand) mean the limits of my world."
“The sense of the world must lie outside the world. In the world everything is as it is, and everything happens as it does happen: in it no value exists—and if it did exist, it would have no value. If there is any value that does have value, it must lie outside the whole sphere of what happens and is the case. For all that happens and is the case is accidental. What makes it non-accidental cannot lie within the world, since if it did it would itself be accidental. It must lie outside the world.”
The object of philosophy is the logical clarification of thoughts.
Philosophy is not a theory but an activity.
A philosophical work consists essentially of elucidations.
The result of philosophy is not a number of "philosophical propositions", but to make propositions clear.
Philosophy should make clear and delimit sharply the thoughts which otherwise are, as it were, opaque and blurred.”
yusufhacking's review against another edition
5.0
It took a while, and I still missed a lot, but this was a magical experience.
sreymey's review against another edition
2.0
Wittgenstein's use of logical constructions to establish the limits of language is truly problematic