# 6.422 explained — Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

> Chapter companion for Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus by Ludwig Wittgenstein.

## 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.

## Character check-ins

### Mr. Wittgenstein

Author of the proposition, articulating the nature of ethical reward and punishment as intrinsic to action.

## Key lines

> 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._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se/chapters/6-422
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se/chapters