Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus · Chapter
5.631 explained
Wittgenstein argues that the thinking, presenting subject does not exist.
What happens
Wittgenstein argues that the thinking, presenting subject does not exist. He illustrates that if one were to write a book titled 'The world as I found it,' they would have to report on their body and its voluntary and involuntary members, thereby isolating the subject and showing that, in an important sense, there is no subject—it cannot be mentioned in the book.
Themes in this chapter
Solipsism and the Subject
This section directly addresses the non-existence of the thinking subject, showing that the subject is not an entity within the world but a limit.
Characters to notice
- Mr. Wittgenstein
Author of the Tractatus, presenting the argument against the existence of the thinking subject.
Key passages
“The thinking, presenting subject; there is no such thing.”
There is no entity that thinks or presents ideas; the subject is an illusion.
Wittgenstein denies the existence of a Cartesian thinking self.
“If I wrote a book “The world as I found it,” I should also have therein to report on my body and say which members obey my will and which do not, etc. This then would be a method of isolating the subject or rather of showing that in an important sense there is no subject: that is to say, of it alone in this book mention could not be made.”
If I described the world as I experienced it, I would have to include my body and its voluntary actions, which would reveal that the subject itself cannot be described—it is not part of the world.
The subject is shown to be a limit, not an object within the world.