Quotes About Philosophy

The thought is the significant proposition

Philosophieren ist: falsche Argumente zurückweisen.

The object of philosophy is the logical clarification of thoughts. Philosophy is not a theory but an activity. A philosophical work consists essentially of elucidations.

Tautology and contradiction are, however, not senseless; they are part of the symbolism, in the same way that "0" is part of the symbolism of Arithmetic.

to be considered an important event in the philosophical world.

The logical forms are anumerical. Therefore there are in logic no pre-eminent numbers, and therefore there is no philosophical monism or dualism, etc.

The specification of all true elementary propositions describes the world completely. The world is completely described by the specification of all elementary propositions plus the specification, which of them are true and which false.

Thence we pass successively to Theory of Knowledge, Principles of Physics, Ethics, and finally the Mystical (das Mystische).

the conditions for sense rather than nonsense in combinations of symbols;

Not how the world is, is the mystical, but that it is.

Don't treat your common sense like an umbrella. When you come into a room to philosophize, don't leave it outside but bring it in with you.

Contradiction is the external limit of the propositions, tautology their substanceless centre.

If we surrender the reins to language and not to life , then the problems of philosophy arise.

The philosopher treats a question; like an illness.

Il senso della vita, cioè il senso del mondo, possiamo chiamarlo Dio. Pregare è pensare al senso della vita.

That ?, ?, etc., are not relations in the sense of right and left, etc., is obvious.

383. The argument I may be dreaming is senseless for this reason: if I am dreaming, this remark is being dreamed as well - and indeed it is also being dreamed that these words have any meaning.

There are men who are too fragile to shatter. I belong to them too.

Logic precedes every experience—that something is so.

Either my piece is a work of the highest rank, or it is not a work of the highest rank. In the latter (and more probable) case I myself am in favour of it not being printed. And in the former case it's a matter of indifference whether it's printed twenty or a hundred years sooner or later. After all, who asks whether the Critique of Pure Reason, for example, was written in 17x or y.

Toda mi tendencia, y creo que la tendencia de todos los humanos que han tratado alguna vez de hablar o escribir sobre ética y religión, llevaba a estrellarnos contra los límites del lenguaje. Esta carrera contra los muros de nuestra jaula es algo perfecta y absolutamente sin esperanza.

The logic of the world which the propositions of logic show in tautologies, mathematics shows in equations.

If suicide is allowed then everything is allowed. If anything is not allowed then suicide is not allowed. This throws a light on the nature of ethics, for suicide is, so to speak, the elementary sin. And when one investigates it, it is like investigating mercury vapor in order to comprehend the nature of vapors.

A good objection helps one forward, a shallow objection, even if it is valid, is wearisome. ... The objection does not seize the matter by its root, where the life is, but so far outside that nothing can be rectified even if it is wrong. A good objection helps directly towards a solution, a shallow one must first be overcome and can, from then on, be left to one side. Just as a tree bends at a knot in the trunk in order to grow on.