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Quote by Ludwig Wittgenstein

Work

Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

Ludwig Wittgenstein's seminal text delves into the foundations of logic and philosophy, offering a unique perspective on the nature of truth, language, and thought. more

Author

Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ludwig Wittgenstein

Ludwig Wittgenstein was one of the most important philosophers of the 20th century, renowned for his profound contributions to language, logic, and philosophical methods. His ideas have had a significant impact on the development of analytic philosophy and philosophy of language. more

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“Ask yourself whether our language is complete--whether it was so before the symbolism of chemistry and the notation of the infinitesimal calculus were incorporated in it; for these are, so to speak, suburbs of our language. (And how many houses or streets does it take before a town begins to be a town?) Our language can be seen as an ancient city: a maze of little streets and squares, of old and new houses, and of houses with additions from various periods; and this surrounded by a multitude of new boroughs with straight regular streets and uniform houses.”

“When philosophers use a word--"knowledge," "being," "object," "I," "proposition," "name"--and try to grasp the essence of the thing, one must always ask oneself: is the word ever actually used in this way in the language-game which is its original home?--What we do is to bring words back from their metaphysical to their everyday use.”

“My propositions serve as elucidations in the following way: anyone who understands me eventually recognizes them as nonsensical, when he has used them--as steps--to climb up beyond them. (He must, so to speak, throw away the ladder after he has climbed up it.) He must transcend these propositions, and then he will see the whole world aright.”