"Wittgenstein, in his preface, tells us that his book is not a textbook, and that its object will be attained
if there is one person who reads it with understanding and to whom it affords pleasure. We think there are many
persons who will read it with understanding and enjoy it. The treatise is clear and lucid. The author is continually
arresting us with new and striking thoughts, and he closes on a note of mystical exaltation."
--The Times Literary Supplement
"Tractatus is one of the fundamental texts of twentieth-century philosophy - short, bold, cryptic, and remarkable
in its power to stir the imagination of philosophers and non-philosophers alike."
--Michael Frayn
Routledge Publishing Web Site, January, 2002
Summary
Perhaps the most important work of philosophy written in the twentieth century, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
was the only philosophical work that Ludwig Wittgenstein published during his lifetime. Written in short, carefully
numbered paragraphs of extreme brilliance, it captured the imagination of a generation of philosophers. For Wittgenstein,
logic was something we use to conquer a reality which is in itself both elusive and unobtainable. He famously summarized
the book in the following words:'What can be said at all can be said clearly; and what we cannot talk about we
must pass over in silence.' David Pears and Brian McGuinness received the highest praise for their meticulous translation.
The work is prefaced by Bertrand Russell's original introduction to the first English edition.
Table of Contents
Translators' Preface
Introduction by Bertrand Russell
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus Preface
Translation
Index
