Wittgenstein: The Limits of Language and World

For this session, we'll be reading Wittgenstein's "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus." Wittgenstein constructs a stark picture theory of language: the world is the totality of facts, not things; language mirrors reality through logical structure; propositions are pictures of possible states of affairs. What can be said can be said clearly; what cannot be said must be passed over in silence. He draws a limit to thought by mapping the logical scaffolding of representation—tautologies say nothing, contradictions are nonsense, and meaningful propositions share logical form with the facts they depict. Philosophy's task is therapeutic: to show that most philosophical problems arise from misunderstanding the logic of language. Ethics, aesthetics, the mystical—everything of value—lies outside the world of facts, beyond the reach of language. The ladder must be thrown away after climbing: the propositions of the Tractatus itself are revealed as senseless, mere elucidations pointing toward what can only be shown, not said. The task: recognize the limits of language to dissolve pseudo-problems and see the world aright.

The reading can be found here. We will try to cover the whole text ext, but feel free to skim over the truth tables and logical notation.