Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus · Chapter
6.4311 explained
Wittgenstein argues that death is not an event within life, but rather the end of life itself.
What happens
Wittgenstein argues that death is not an event within life, but rather the end of life itself. He suggests that eternity is not endless time but timelessness, and that living in the present constitutes eternal life. Our life is endless in the same way that our visual field has no limits.
Themes in this chapter
Ethics and the Mystical
The proposition touches on the mystical aspect of life and death, suggesting that the sense of the world lies outside temporal events.
Characters to notice
- Mr. Wittgenstein
The author of the proposition, presenting his view on death and eternity.
Key passages
“Death is not an event of life. Death is not lived through.”
Death is not something that happens during life; we never experience it.
Wittgenstein asserts that death is not a part of lived experience.
“If by eternity is understood not endless temporal duration but timelessness, then he lives eternally who lives in the present.”
Eternity means timelessness, not infinite time; living in the present is to live eternally.
Wittgenstein redefines eternity as a state of timeless presence.
“Our life is endless in the way that our visual field is without limit.”
Life has no end in the same sense that our field of vision has no boundary.
An analogy comparing the boundlessness of life to the unbounded nature of the visual field.