Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus · Chapter
6.422 explained
Wittgenstein argues that ethical laws cannot be based on ordinary notions of punishment and reward, as these are tied to consequences that are events in the world.
What happens
Wittgenstein argues that ethical laws cannot be based on ordinary notions of punishment and reward, as these are tied to consequences that are events in the world. Instead, ethical reward and punishment must reside in the action itself, pointing to a transcendent, non-worldly sense of ethics.
Themes in this chapter
Ethics and the Mystical
Ethics is shown to transcend worldly events; reward and punishment are not empirical consequences but lie in the action itself.
Characters to notice
- Mr. Wittgenstein
Author of the proposition, articulating the nature of ethical reward and punishment as intrinsic to action.
Key passages
“The first thought in setting up an ethical law of the form “thou shalt …” is: And what if I do not do it? But it is clear that ethics has nothing to do with punishment and reward in the ordinary sense.”
When we first consider an ethical command like 'you must,' we naturally ask what happens if we disobey. However, Wittgenstein insists that ethics is not about ordinary punishment or reward.
Distinguishes ethical from legal or consequentialist frameworks.
“For there must be something right in that formulation of the question. There must be some sort of ethical reward and ethical punishment, but this must lie in the action itself.”
The question about consequences is not entirely misguided; there is a kind of ethical reward and punishment, but it is inherent in the action, not in external outcomes.
Points to an intrinsic, non-empirical dimension of ethics.