Ludwig Wittgenstein Quotes About Philosophy

We have collected for you the TOP of Ludwig Wittgenstein's best quotes about Philosophy! Here are collected all the quotes about Philosophy starting from the birthday of the Philosopher – April 26, 1889! We hope you will be inspired to new achievements with our constantly updated collection of quotes. At the moment, this page contains 35 sayings of Ludwig Wittgenstein about Philosophy. We will be happy if you share our collection of quotes with your friends on social networks!
  • When one is frightened of the truth then it is never the whole truth that one has an inkling of.

    Ludwig Wittgenstein (1984). “Notebooks, 1914-1916”, p.30, University of Chicago Press
  • Philosophy may in no way interfere with the actual use of language; it can in the end only describe it.

    Ludwig Wittgenstein (1958). “Philosophical investigations”
  • All philosophy is a 'critique of language' (though not in Mauthner's sense). It was Russell who performed the service of showing that the apparent logical form of a proposition need not be its real one.

    Ludwig Wittgenstein, David Francis Pears, Brian McGuinness (2001). “Tractatus Logico-philosophicus”, p.23, Psychology Press
  • The real discovery is the one which enables me to stop doing philosophy when I want to. The one that gives philosophy peace, so that it is no longer tormented by questions which bring itself into question.

    "Philosophical Investigations". Book by Ludwig Wittgenstein, § 133, 1953.
  • For an answer which cannot be expressed the question too cannot be expressed. The riddle does not exist. If a question can be put at all, then it can also be answered.

    Ludwig Wittgenstein (2010). “Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus”, p.107, Cosimo, Inc.
  • There is a truth in Schopenhauer’s view that philosophy is an organism, and that a book on philosophy, with a beginning and end, is a sort of contradiction. ... In philosophy matters are not simple enough for us to say ‘Let’s get a rough idea’, for we do not know the country except by knowing the connections between the roads.

  • Russell's books should be bound in two colours, those dealing with mathematical logic in red - and all students of philosophy should read them; those dealing with ethics and politics in blue - and no one should be allowed to read them.

    "Recollections of Wittgenstein". Book by Rush Rhees, 1984.
  • Philosophy is not a theory but an activity.

    Ludwig Wittgenstein (2014). “Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus: German and English”, p.9, Routledge
  • Philosophy can be said to consist of three activities: to see the commonsense answer, to get yourself so deeply into the problem that the common sense answer is unbearable, and to get from that situation back to the commonsense answer.

  • Philosophy just puts everything before us, and neither explains nor deduces anything.-Since everything lies open to view there is nothing to explain

    Ludwig Wittgenstein, James Carl Klagge, Alfred Nordmann (1993). “Philosophical Occasions, 1912-1951”, p.177, Hackett Publishing
  • Philosophy is like trying to open a safe with a combination lock: each little adjustment of the dials seems to achieve nothing, only when everything is in place does the door open.

    Conversation in 1930. "Ludwig Wittgenstein: Personal Recollections". Book by Rush Rhees, Chapter 6, 1981.
  • I am sitting with a philosopher in the garden; he says again and again 'I know that that’s a tree', pointing to a tree that is near us. Someone else arrives and hears this, and I tell him: 'This fellow isn’t insane. We are only doing philosophy.

    Ludwig Wittgenstein (1969). “On Certainty”
  • Philosophy aims at the logical clarification of thoughts. Philosophy is not a body of doctrine but an activity. A philosophical work consists essentially of elucidations. Philosophy does not result in 'philosophical propositions', but rather in the clarification of propositions. Without philosophy thoughts are, as it were, cloudy and indistinct: its task is to make them clear and to give them sharp boundaries.

    Ludwig Wittgenstein (1961). “Tractatus Logico-philosophicus: The German Text of Ludwig Wittgenstein's Logisch-philosophische Abhandlung”, p.57, Linkgua digital
  • The philosopher strives to find the liberating word, that is, the word that finally permits us to grasp what up to now has intangibly weighed down upon our consciousness.

    "Philosophical Occasions 1912-1951" edited by James Carl Klagge and Alfred Nordmann, Ch. 9, (p. 165), 1993.
  • Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language.

    Garth Hallett, Ludwig Wittgenstein (1977). “A companion to Wittgenstein's "Philosophical investigations"”, Cornell Univ Pr
  • I don't know why we are here, but I'm pretty sure that it is not in order to enjoy ourselves.

    "The Beginning of the End" by Peter Hershey, (p. 109), 2004.
  • Philosophy unravels the knots in our thinking; hence its results must be simple, but its activity is as complicated as the knots that it unravels.

    Ludwig Wittgenstein, James Carl Klagge, Alfred Nordmann (1993). “Philosophical Occasions, 1912-1951”, p.183, Hackett Publishing
  • In philosophy it is always good to put a question instead of an answer to a question. For an answer to the philosophical question may easily be unfair; disposing of it by means of another question is not.

    Garth Hallett, Ludwig Wittgenstein (1977). “A companion to Wittgenstein's "Philosophical investigations"”, Cornell Univ Pr
  • Philosophy limits the thinkable and therefore the unthinkable.

  • Philosophy hasn't made any progress? - If somebody scratches the spot where he has an itch, do we have to see some progress? Isn't genuine scratching otherwise, or genuine itching itching? And can't this reaction to an irritation continue in the same way for a long time before a cure for the itching is discovered?

  • I'm doing philosophy like an old woman, first I'm looking for my pencil, then I'm looking for my glasses, then I'm looking for my pencil again.

  • A good guide will take you through the more important streets more often than he takes you down side streets; a bad guide will do the opposite. In philosophy I'm a rather bad guide.

    "Wittgenstein and the Philosophy of Information" edited by Alois Pichler and Herbert Hrachovec, (p. 140), 2008.
  • The sole remaining task for philosophy is the analysis of language.

  • A serious and good philosophical work could be written consisting entirely of jokes.

    Garth Hallett, Ludwig Wittgenstein (1977). “A companion to Wittgenstein's "Philosophical investigations"”, Cornell Univ Pr
  • Sometimes, in doing philosophy, one just wants to utter an inarticulate sound.

  • The object of philosophy is the logical clarification of thought.

    Ludwig Wittgenstein (2014). “The Tractatus According to Its Own Form”, p.76, Lulu.com
  • The difficulty in philosophy is to say no more than we know.

    "The Blue Book" by Ludwig Wittgenstein, (p. 45), 1965.
  • Philosophy, as we use the word, is a fight against the fascination which forms of expression exert upon us.

    Ludwig Wittgenstein (1965). “Preliminary Studies for the "Philosophical Investigations": Generally Known as the Blue and Brown Books”
  • What is your aim in philosophy? To show the fly the way out of the fly-bottle.

    Philosophical Investigations pt. 1, sec. 309 (1953)
  • It is one of the chief skills of the philosopher not to occupy himself with questions which do not concern him.

    Ludwig Wittgenstein (1984). “Notebooks, 1914-1916”, p.92, University of Chicago Press
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    Ludwig Wittgenstein

    • Born: April 26, 1889
    • Died: April 29, 1951
    • Occupation: Philosopher