Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
"Philosophy," Ludwig Wittgenstein once wrote, "should actually be written only as poetry." That Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus--Wittgenstein's masterwork, and the only book he published during his lifetime--endures as the definitive modern text on the limits of logic, inspiring artists and philosophers alike, comes as no surprise. Consisting of 525 hierarchically numbered declarative statements, each one "self-evident," Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus is imbued, as translator Damion Searls writes, with the kind of "cryptic grandeur" and "awe-inspiring opacity" we might expect--might want--from such an iconic philosopher. Yet previous translations, in their eagerness to replicate German phrasing and syntax, have a stilted, even redolently Victorian air. With this new translation and an important introduction on the language of the book, prefaced by eminent scholar Marjorie Perloff, Searls finally does justice to Wittgenstein's enigmatic masterpiece, capturing the fluid and forceful language of the original without sacrificing its philosophical rigor--indeed, making Wittgenstein's philosophy clearer than ever before in English.
Synopsis
More than a century after its composition,
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus--Wittgenstein's first masterwork, and the only book he published during his lifetime--endures as the definitive modern text on what logic can and cannot do. Since its first English-language publication in 1922, this profoundly enigmatic work has inspired philosophers and non-philosophers alike.
Consisting of 525 hierarchically numbered statements, each one "self-evident," Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus is imbued, as translator Damion Searls writes, with the kind of cryptic grandeur and awe-inspiring opacity we might expect--might want--from such an iconic philosopher. Yet earlier translations, in their efforts to excessively copy German phrasing and syntax, range from stilted, even redolently Victorian, to downright impenetrable.
With this new translation and insightful introduction on the language of the book, Searls finally does justice to Wittgenstein's masterpiece, capturing the fluid and forceful prose of the original without sacrificing any of its philosophical rigor. Indeed, in freeing the translation from the grip of the German language--revisiting, especially, the nouns and impersonal verbs that don't convey in English the precision and intensity of the German--Searls renders Wittgenstein's philosophy clearer and more accessible than ever before.
Featuring a preface by eminent Wittgenstein scholar Marjorie Perloff, this bilingual, facing-page edition promises to become the standard for generations to come.