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Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus · Chapter

6.521 explained

The solution to the problem of life is found in its disappearance; those who grasp the sense of life cannot articulate it.

What happens

The solution to the problem of life is found in its disappearance; those who grasp the sense of life cannot articulate it.

Themes in this chapter

  • Ethics and the Mystical

    The vanishing of the problem of life points to the ineffable, ethical resolution beyond language.

  • Limits of Language and Thought

    The inability to say wherein the sense of life consists illustrates the limits of language.

Key passages

  • The solution of the problem of life is seen in the vanishing of this problem.

    The answer to life's meaning is realized when the question itself dissolves.

    The problem disappears rather than being solved discursively.

  • Is not this the reason why men to whom after long doubting the sense of life became clear, could not then say wherein this sense consisted?

    This explains why those who finally understand life's meaning cannot put it into words.

    The sense of life is shown, not said.