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Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus · Chapter
5.63 explained
Wittgenstein declares the identity of the self and the world, describing the subject as the microcosm.
What happens
Wittgenstein declares the identity of the self and the world, describing the subject as the microcosm.
Themes in this chapter
Solipsism and the Subject
The proposition 'I am my world' directly expresses the solipsistic identification of the self with the world, and the subject as the limit.
Characters to notice
- Mr. Wittgenstein
Author of the proposition asserting the self as the world.
Key passages
“I am my world. (The microcosm.)”
The self and the world are identical; the subject is a small-scale reflection of the whole.
Wittgenstein collapses the distinction between the experiencing subject and the totality of facts, presenting the self as the world in miniature.