# 6.423 explained — Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

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

## What happens

Wittgenstein distinguishes between the will as the subject of ethics, which lies beyond language and cannot be spoken about, and the will as a psychological phenomenon, which is merely an empirical subject of study.

## Themes in this chapter

### Ethics and the Mystical

The ethical will is identified as something that cannot be spoken about, aligning with Wittgenstein's view that ethics belongs to the realm of the mystical and ineffable.

### Limits of Language and Thought

The proposition exemplifies the limits of language by asserting that the ethical will is beyond what can be meaningfully expressed.

## Character check-ins

### Mr. Wittgenstein

Author of the proposition, drawing the distinction between the ethical will and the psychological will.

## Key lines

> Of the will as the subject of the ethical we cannot speak.

We cannot talk about the will when it is considered as the foundation of ethics.

_This underscores the ineffability of ethical value in Wittgenstein's framework._

> And the will as a phenomenon is only of interest to psychology.

The will, when viewed as an observable event, is merely a topic for psychological study.

_This distinguishes empirical psychology from philosophical ethics._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se/chapters/6-423
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se/chapters