Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus · Chapter
6.4312 explained
Wittgenstein argues that the concept of the soul's temporal immortality does not solve the riddle of life, because eternal life is just as enigmatic as present life.
What happens
Wittgenstein argues that the concept of the soul's temporal immortality does not solve the riddle of life, because eternal life is just as enigmatic as present life. The true solution to life's riddle lies outside space and time, not within the domain of natural science.
Themes in this chapter
Ethics and the Mystical
The passage directly addresses the mystical solution to the riddle of life lying outside space and time, beyond scientific problems.
Limits of Language and Thought
Wittgenstein emphasizes that the riddle of life cannot be solved by natural science, highlighting the limits of what can be meaningfully said.
Characters to notice
- Mr. Wittgenstein
The author of the proposition, presenting his critique of temporal immortality and the nature of life's riddle.
Key passages
“The temporal immortality of the human soul, that is to say, its eternal survival also after death, is not only in no way guaranteed, but this assumption in the first place will not do for us what we always tried to make it do.”
The idea that the soul lives forever in time after death is not only unproven, but it also fails to provide the comfort or answer we expected from it.
Wittgenstein dismisses the traditional religious hope of eternal life as solving life's mystery.
“The solution of the riddle of life in space and time lies outside space and time.”
The answer to the puzzle of existence is not found within the physical world, but beyond it.
This echoes the mystical turn in the Tractatus, where value and meaning transcend factual description.