Re:The Limits of Language
by onion2k on Wednesday September 02, 2015 @06:49AM
(#10158387)
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus is the only book I've never managed to get past the first page. It's really hard to read - Wittgenstein actually numbered all the paragraphs so they can be discussed individually it's so dense. I'd still recommend picking up a copy though, because there's a foreword by Bertrand Russell that's really worthwhile reading.
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Re:The Limits of Language
by johnchristopher on Wednesday September 02, 2015 @07:04AM
(#10158424)
For those interested it's available on Project Gutenberg:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5740
(english version)
I got deeper into it, but it's still dense, I couldn't get through to the end.
It's notable how hard it is to write a logically strict and abstract text without using the language of mathematics. It could be so much clearer and shorter if he used formulas to express his key points. Apparently Wittgenstein knew plenty enough math, but he decided not to use it, I suppose, to make his work more accessible to those not so well-versed in it, that is, most other philosophers.
> Wittgenstein actually numbered all the paragraphs so they can be discussed individually it's so dense.
I'm not sure that this is indicative of particular density of the TLP, though; I believe that it is common practice in text-heavy scholarly works. (I can't cite any examples off the top of my head, so it's possible that my vague recollection is leading me astray.)
Re:The Limits of Language
by terminalcommand on Wednesday September 02, 2015 @10:01AM
(#10159167)
Seconded. Almost all law books I possess have numbered paragraphs.
In twenty years of reading philosophy books it's the only one I've encountered that does it.