Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus · Chapter
6.43 explained
Wittgenstein argues that willing, whether good or bad, cannot alter the facts of the world but only its limits, transforming the world as a whole—so that the world of the happy person is entirely different from that of the unhappy person.
What happens
Wittgenstein argues that willing, whether good or bad, cannot alter the facts of the world but only its limits, transforming the world as a whole—so that the world of the happy person is entirely different from that of the unhappy person.
Themes in this chapter
Ethics and the Mystical
Directly addresses the ethical will and its power to change the world's limits, not its facts, linking happiness and unhappiness to a transformed world.
Characters to notice
- Mr. Wittgenstein
Author of the proposition; presents the ethical implications of willing and the transformation of the world's limits.
Key passages
“If good or bad willing changes the world, it can only change the limits of the world, not the facts; not the things that can be expressed in language.”
A good or evil will does not alter any factual state of affairs, but only the boundaries of the world—what can be said remains unchanged.
Clarifies the distinction between ethical transformation and factual change.
“The world of the happy is quite another than that of the unhappy.”
A happy person experiences a fundamentally different world than an unhappy person, even though the facts are the same.
Emphasizes the subjective, limit-based nature of ethical difference.