“ What can be shown cannot be said. ”
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1921). copy citation
| Author | Ludwig Wittgenstein |
|---|---|
| Source | Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus |
| Topic | showing saying |
| Date | 1921 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by C. K. Ogden |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/5740/5740-pdf.pdf |
Context
“Thus a proposition «fa» shows that in its sense the object a occurs, two propositions «fa» and «ga» that they are both about the same object.
If two propositions contradict one another, this is shown by their structure; similarly if one follows from another, etc.
4.1212 OGD [→GER | →P/M] What can be shown cannot be said.
4.1213 OGD [→GER | →P/M] Now we understand our feeling that we are in possession of the right logical conception, if only all is right in our symbolism.
4.122 OGD [→GER | →P/M] We can speak in a certain sense of formal properties of objects and atomic facts, or of properties of the structure of facts, and in the same sense of formal relations and relations of structures.” source
If two propositions contradict one another, this is shown by their structure; similarly if one follows from another, etc.
4.1212 OGD [→GER | →P/M] What can be shown cannot be said.
4.1213 OGD [→GER | →P/M] Now we understand our feeling that we are in possession of the right logical conception, if only all is right in our symbolism.
4.122 OGD [→GER | →P/M] We can speak in a certain sense of formal properties of objects and atomic facts, or of properties of the structure of facts, and in the same sense of formal relations and relations of structures.” source
Meaning and analysis
