Article/Publication Details

Solipsism and Metaphysics of Tractatus

(Original title: Solipsizmus a metafyzika traktátu)
Organon F, 1996, vol. 3, No 1, pp. 9-21.
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Abstract

The paper considers one of the most enigmatic problems of Wittgenstein`s Tractatus - the problem of solipsism. The authorś task is to reveal how the discussion of solipsism illuminates Wittgenstein`s metaphysical view in this treatise. Wittgenstein`s method is considered as one through which the status of what cannot be said is demonstrated. Wittgenstein has not embrased solipsism or idealism in the Tractatus, and neither has he rejected metaphysics as a whole. His attack has been directed against dogmatic philosophy and ethics, against the effort to say what cannot be said in true/false propositions. The discussion of solipsism brings into philosophy the importance of metaphysical "I" as a transcendental limit of the world and language. Wittgenstein`s aim in the Tractatus has been twofold: a) to show the nonsensicality of philosophical, ethical, aesthetical propositions (based on truth function theory), b) to emphasize, that the inexpresibility of the higher (in language) is the most important thing in our lives.

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