Perhaps the most important work of philosophy written in the twentieth century, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus was the only philosophical work that...
read full description
reviews
Sep 19, 2007
Robin
rated it: 
The ingenious work which, had it been true, would have provided a firm foundation for Positivism and provided justification for Philosophy's existence. It also would have pretty much been the last word on the nature of and philosophical limits of language. Instead Wittgenstein repudiated this view and put a nail in the coffin with P.I.
Elegant, minimal, logically crystalline. And mostly wrong.
Elegant, minimal, logically crystalline. And mostly wrong.
0 comments
like
(5 people liked it)
Jun 21, 2011
1. The world is all that is the case.
1.1 All that is the case is slightly better with coffee.
1.2 All that is the case is slightly less so with beer.
2. What we cannot speak of without the aid of coffee or beer, we must pass over in silence.
Wittgenstein composed some of the Tractatus while in the Austrian army and a World War I Italian prison camp--and it reads like the written equivalent of a man banging his head against his prison bars.
More...
1.1 All that is the case is slightly better with coffee.
1.2 All that is the case is slightly less so with beer.
2. What we cannot speak of without the aid of coffee or beer, we must pass over in silence.
Wittgenstein composed some of the Tractatus while in the Austrian army and a World War I Italian prison camp--and it reads like the written equivalent of a man banging his head against his prison bars.
More...
9 comments
like
(5 people liked it)
May 05, 2011
Manny
rated it:
What can I say about Tractatus that hasn't been said a million times before? Crystalline... gnomic... dense... wrong. Well, I don't disagree with any of that, but it would be nice to have an image. I ask my subconscious if it can come up with anything, and while I'm in the shower it shows me the sequence from Terry Gilliam's 1988 movie The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, where John Neville and Eric Idle build a hot air balloon made entirely from women's lingerie.
I am abou More...
I am abou More...
Aug 31, 2008
I was just going to write, “Of what we cannot speak we must remain silent,” as my review. The book ends with this rather affected proposition, which actually would make a perfect book review for me as well. However, it’s an abomination to read (or pretend to have done so) a book of this stature (supposedly the most important philosophical book of the 20th century, no less) and not write a paragraph or two about it.
Wittgenstein wrote this book in the trenches and P.O.W. camps of World More...
Wittgenstein wrote this book in the trenches and P.O.W. camps of World More...
3 comments
like
(5 people liked it)
Jan 29, 2008
Gabriel
rated it: 
Wittgenstein says explicitly in the introduction of the book that no one has not already had these thoughts will be able to understand it, and should therefore not read it. No doubt this had a great affect on the size of The Tractatus' readership.
I, having not fully had many of these thoughts, was nonetheless absolutely THRILLED by the book--it's abstruseness notwithstanding--to the point where I would bring it up in conversation with absolute strangers, which, needless to say, aff More...
I, having not fully had many of these thoughts, was nonetheless absolutely THRILLED by the book--it's abstruseness notwithstanding--to the point where I would bring it up in conversation with absolute strangers, which, needless to say, aff More...
0 comments
like
(4 people liked it)
Mar 22, 2007
Daniel
rated it:
"Today there were 18 1p coins on the grave of Ludwig Wittgenstein at the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge. Originally .. some days ago .. there were four, spread about; and then five in a little pile to one side. This morning there were 15 neatly underlining his name. Now there are three more, still neatly lined up. Over the years numerous small objects have been placed on the grave including a lemon, a pork pie, a Mr Kipling cupcake and a Buddhist prayer wheel. It is all
More...
Jul 30, 2011
First of all, it should be acknowledged that my entire philosophical background is in continental, rather than analytic, thought. I come to Wittgenstein with very little context. The only other philosophers Wittgenstein directly references in the Tractatus are Frege and Russell, neither of whom I have studied. My only preparation for reading this was a (very good) book by Anthony Rudd that compared Wittgenstein's work with that of Heidegger, finding unexpected similarities in their projects.
More...
Jul 30, 2010
Jon
rated it:
If I may use a crude simile for illustration, Wittgenstein says that knowledge, or language, or science, is like a pile of cordwood. Each piece of wood is a proposition that mirrors or pictures a fact in the world. The pieces of wood are stacked on top of each other according to the logical rules for concatenating propositions, including implication (for causation) and universal quantifiers (for scientific principles). The pile of wood rests on a bottom layer of “elementary propositions,” of
More...
Mar 01, 2010
Josh
rated it:
Obviously, there's a reason why Tractatus is considered one of the seminal works of analytic philosophy. It's the product of one of the most brilliant minds of the 20th century and offers a great deal of insight into the cogs of the analytic thought process, as far as what is maximized and what is minimized or ignored altogether.
There are a few problems I have with the text, though.
Wittgenstein tends to discount the value of a number of areas of philosophy that have obvio More...
There are a few problems I have with the text, though.
Wittgenstein tends to discount the value of a number of areas of philosophy that have obvio More...
Feb 25, 2011
Frankie
rated it: 
Tractatus gave me a dull, achy throbbing behind my eyes. I have to admit most of it is beyond me. I made attempts to research the sudden downpour of terms, but even wikipedia was no help. I flashed back to my struggles with Baudrillard and his nonsense. He does appear to be pretty pompous when he makes adjustments to Russell's and Frege's work. Thankfully, by the fourth of seven points, I began to grasp a little of his thinking, though I may never understand what's going on with those formulas.
More...
More...
Nov 27, 2007
Andrew
rated it:
Patience is necessary if you're not within philosophy academia, like myself. It's not light reading but, conversely, Wittgenstein is not heavy material. In fact, it's the strict, disciplined simplicity of his ideas that adds some difficulty. The book ends on a fantastic note, either an affirmation or a haymaker to the field of philosophy. I'm still unsure which.
0 comments
like
(3 people liked it)
Dec 22, 2010
Apio
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Jan 06, 2012
jean
rated it:
eigentlich habe ich mir auf drei doppelt beschriebenen, einzeiligen Notizblättern Notizen und Gedanken zu einzelnen Punkte gemacht, die ich für besonders wichtig halte, mit denen ich nicht d'accord bin, o.ä. . diese persönlichen Ergebnisse wollte ich hier als review posten, um sie für mich zu konservieren und meinen derzeitig geistigen Standpunkt festzuhalten, stattdessen werde ich die Zettel behalten und hier eine Empfehlung für das Buch abgeben.
wenn es eine philosophische Abhandlung, die More...
wenn es eine philosophische Abhandlung, die More...
Jan 16, 2009
Mari
rated it:
The ascii text is available from the Gutenberg Library here: Tractatus Logico Philosphicus
I wish I could remember who described this to me as a "Logical Poem" - but that's still how it reads to me. Though aspects of this "Early Wittgenstein" material are left wanting in light of his later work, it's still a remarkably compelling read.
UPDATE: I've gone through the text again, doing what I always do, looking for a few lines or a section that is represent More...
I wish I could remember who described this to me as a "Logical Poem" - but that's still how it reads to me. Though aspects of this "Early Wittgenstein" material are left wanting in light of his later work, it's still a remarkably compelling read.
UPDATE: I've gone through the text again, doing what I always do, looking for a few lines or a section that is represent More...
Jul 30, 2011
Barce
rated it:
This is a profound book that has rendered me silent and so clear about the very foundations of the world around me.
When I first read it, I really didn't have a philosophical experience with it. It was just another thing to read in college.
Then I had a certain clarity come over me when I talked with W.E. Abraham, the author of "The Mind Of Africa." He gave me an approach for reading the Tractatus. Take a topic that interests you, and then find those passages just dea More...
When I first read it, I really didn't have a philosophical experience with it. It was just another thing to read in college.
Then I had a certain clarity come over me when I talked with W.E. Abraham, the author of "The Mind Of Africa." He gave me an approach for reading the Tractatus. Take a topic that interests you, and then find those passages just dea More...
Oct 18, 2010
La pointe de la sauce
rated it:
The seminal work of Ludwig Wittgenstein and it reads like poetry. There is something inherently wrong with Tractatus, it seems logically sound when you take its elements or logical propositions one at at time, however when you work it all into one unified body there are many conflicts. Wittgenstein bothers me because there is something snotty about how he presents his work, its like he's trying to pick a fight and has set the playing field exactly how he wants it.
Anyway, it sounded More...
Anyway, it sounded More...
Mar 23, 2011
Zach
rated it:
I am in no way a logician, so the formally technical passages of this work were lost on me, but Wittgenstein's more classical philosophical musings (even though he later refuted many of them) were consistent with the worldview in which I most often operate. I read in them many precursors to postmodern literary theory, with a healthy dose of solipsism. It is certainly an intellectually engaging work, even for those of us for whom the many equations are all but unintelligible, and even in such c
More...
Mar 03, 2009
Erik
rated it:
I read this thing at the old Volume II bookstore on Sheridan Road across from Loyola University on the recommendation of Father Bill Ellos, S.J., the philosophy professor there I was serving as a teaching assistant. It was a quick read. Like all of Wittgenstein, it was readily accessible.
The Tractatus is like a philosophical science fiction story. What if Bertrand Russell's logical atomism were the case? Wittgenstein draws the implications. Of course, it isn't the case given the More...
The Tractatus is like a philosophical science fiction story. What if Bertrand Russell's logical atomism were the case? Wittgenstein draws the implications. Of course, it isn't the case given the More...
Sep 02, 2011
Adam
rated it: 
Hmmm...how to rate a book you didn't understand at all--that is the question. Maybe like this: (?)
1. Here the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus is everything that is the case.
1.1 It is the case because it is the subject of this review.
1.11 This review is determined by facts. In this case, all the facts that I came up with while reading the case.
1.12. The subject cannot include facts that are not the case because the totality of existent facts d More...
1. Here the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus is everything that is the case.
1.1 It is the case because it is the subject of this review.
1.11 This review is determined by facts. In this case, all the facts that I came up with while reading the case.
1.12. The subject cannot include facts that are not the case because the totality of existent facts d More...
Sep 04, 2011
David
rated it:
This is one of those books that ripped open my brain, tore out the stuffing, and replaced it with the machinery of a better mind, then told my brain to adapt and patch. By the time I got to the end, I felt like my thoughts were running along a razor's edge that was getting thinner and sharper, and that slipping was not only not an option, it was impossible. And then he hits you with the final set of propositions. It was a mystical experience done through some precise-as-fuck logic. Wittgenstein
More...
Mar 12, 2008
Matthew
rated it:
I had a hard time thinking of how to rate this book. It was, literally, amazing. It also made me miserable.
Do I recognize its genius? Yes, to the extent possible. Do I like it? Only in the abstract.
Do I recognize its genius? Yes, to the extent possible. Do I like it? Only in the abstract.
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
May 14, 2011
Dylan
rated it: 
I don't rate this one star because of the ideas Wittgenstein attempts to get across, but for the manner with which he expresses himself. He made my reading of Being and Nothingness seem like a reading of an issue of Maxim by comparison. As I'm reading his propositions, I often think that I'm missing the secret decoder ring that surely must have been packaged with the book upon publication. Funny that he speaks of the limitations of language when he writes so poorly.
It is only when r More...
It is only when r More...
Jun 18, 2010
Rowland
rated it:
Mathematics is a logical method derived from the repeated application of operations. The number 2, for instance, is the exponent given to an operation that is applied twice. Thus, the propositions of mathematics do not say anything about the world, but only reflect the method in which propositions are constructed.
The laws of science are not logical laws, nor are they empirical observations. Rather, they constitute an interpretive method, by means of which we can more accurately descr More...
The laws of science are not logical laws, nor are they empirical observations. Rather, they constitute an interpretive method, by means of which we can more accurately descr More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Jan 07, 2010
Jeff
rated it:
I am stout in my belief that there are a lot of useful thoughts circulating in this book.
I admit, though, that I am most partial to the new-age "therapeutic" reading where Ludwig teaches us all a godelian lesson about being able to know what is outside our reality, but that's probably because I am not patient enough to suffer ludwig's claptrap of vagaries to dissect, for example, whether his n-operator is meaningful beyond the statement that "within a given context, if More...
I admit, though, that I am most partial to the new-age "therapeutic" reading where Ludwig teaches us all a godelian lesson about being able to know what is outside our reality, but that's probably because I am not patient enough to suffer ludwig's claptrap of vagaries to dissect, for example, whether his n-operator is meaningful beyond the statement that "within a given context, if More...
Aug 07, 2011
Jordan
rated it:
Before outlining the philosophical project of the Tractatus a cursory note about the style and structure of the text should be made. It consists of short supposedly self-evident aphorisms in the form 7 general statements as well as many supplementary sentences that explain or reveal the deeper meaning of the more general statement above, e.g. 7.1 is taken to be an explanatory proposition of 7, 7.1.1 supplements 7.1, and so on. There are no arguments per se in the text. This does not mean that th
More...
Jan 07, 2012
Adam
rated it:
An absolutely exhilarating read. Reading propositions 6.4 thru 7 is a mind-bending intellectual experience, and yes, that is exactly where Wittgenstein gets strangely mystical. But that is also where Wittgenstein shows that he can make even mysticism seem compelling and actually reasonable. It is also where the debate over the Tractatus' ultimate meaning emerges. The last statement before the famous closer: "what we cannot talk about we must pass over in silence" is, in true Wittgenste
More...
Aug 01, 2011
James
rated it:
This is a classic of the era of logical postivism. With the blessing of Bertrand Russell it became an influential text at least until its author threw it overboard for a new approach with his Philosophical Investigations.
The early Wittgenstein was concerned with the relationship between propositions and the world, and hoped that by providing an account of this relationship all philosophical problems could be solved; these problems arise, he thought, because the logic of language is not e More...
The early Wittgenstein was concerned with the relationship between propositions and the world, and hoped that by providing an account of this relationship all philosophical problems could be solved; these problems arise, he thought, because the logic of language is not e More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jul 06, 2008
Nick
rated it:
A beautiful little book about language and thought, done in by Wittgenstein's lack of mathematical training to this point (it was written in the trenches of the Austro-Hungarian ostfront and the Italian POW camps of Cassino, and published only with the help of Russell and Ogden -- indeed, Ogden gave the book its title). Look to the Philosophical Investigations for "Wittgenstein II", the much more useful side of Ludwig's career (well after he'd left Logical Positivism behind), but read
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Feb 02, 2010
Andrew
rated it:
First I must say that I did not not understand half of this book, but then again I do not have any previous experiences on reading philosophical books nor have I ever studied any philosophy.
There were some sections that I did understand and the bit in the end of the book seemed very nice also for a beginner. I liked the fact how Wittgenstein is able to break things into very tiny pieces and have these side notations the points he just presented.
Somehow this came across as a More...
There were some sections that I did understand and the bit in the end of the book seemed very nice also for a beginner. I liked the fact how Wittgenstein is able to break things into very tiny pieces and have these side notations the points he just presented.
Somehow this came across as a More...
Jan 04, 2011
Jack
rated it:
The world is everything that is the case. I understood maybe 1/5th of this short treatise on language, logic, solipsism and philosophy. But even that was enough to make it on this top ten list. The 1/5th understanding is after reading it three times, by the way. He's a poetic philosopher, so what he is saying is either 100 percent or zero percent clear. I wanted to read this a few times before starting his other works, so I will begin those in 2011.
