This log was inspired by "How to Read Wittgenstein" and "Ludwig Wittgenstein: the duty of genius" by Ray Monk. It is based on reading Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus by Ludwig Wittgenstein translated by D. F. Pears & B. F. McGuinness (Routledge and Kegan Paul:1963)

Saturday, April 5, 2008

The boundary of my language represents the boundary of my world.

Logic spreads throughout the world, so the boundaries of the world are also its boundaries. One cannot logically say that the world has one thing in it but not the other. This exclusion would mean one can go beyond the boundaries of the world. That, after all, is the only way to view those boundaries from the other side. What we cannot think, we cannot think; so also, we cannot say what we cannot think.

This remark provides the key to deciding how much truth there is to solipsism. What the solipsist means to say is quite correct; only it cannot be said, but proves to be so. That the world is my world is shown by the fact that the limits of language (the only language I understand) comprise the limits of my world. The world and life are one.

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