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... ns), to Wittgenstein this is a paradoxical idea and the attempt to do so is the very folly which leads us to many of the mistakes of metaphysics. Hence this is merely a statement of what can be known, unsullied by investigation, which is the only way it can retain its validity. Of course, as with the rest of the Tractatus, this phrase echoes with the thought of the all the other matrices in the work.
The point has already been demonstrated but demonstrated though negation, marking the boundaries of human knowledge Wittgenstein has over stepped them. This detached phrase is the positive affirmation of what has been proved, the valid conclusion to all that has been said before but unencumbered by the impossible and misleading burden of proof. Wittgenstein does not come to this statement at random merely because it happens to suit his purpose. Within the investigative structure of the Tractatus statement 6. 54 is a logical if not inevitable result. As has been said the Tractatus consists of series of statements or elucidations which clarify Wittgenstein's arguments.
These elucidations are broken into seven sections each one containing an integral argument or position. The further statements in each section (other than the seventh) serve to expand, refine and reiterate these positions. In this way the argument develops whilst always being interlinked. "The world is everything that is the case" (1) Wittgenstein is here saying what there is that can be pictured. He expands this to explain that what is the case are "facts, not things" (1. 1).
It is the arrangements of things that are facts and the objects of picturing. These facts are independent and can be non existent or existent. This brings him to the concept of "atomic facts." These are the building blocks of existence- the facts that exist and hence constitute reality- "What is the case, the fact, is the existence of atomic facts" (2). These atomic facts are combinations of objects (2. 01) and are objects are linked together within these facts (2. 03) and the form of this combination is structure (2. 033). In perceiving we make ourselves pictures of facts (2. 1) and these pictures are a model of reality (2. 12) Here Wittgenstein is saying that our pictures share the structure of reality, the structure in which objects form facts. This is the form of representation. - "the possibility that the things are combined with one another as are the elements of the picture" (2. 51).
This is how what we perceive is linked with reality. The crucial statement is that "the picture cannot place itself outside of it's form of representation" (2. 174) That is to say that the picture must share the form of what it represents and cannot represent it's form of representation... Regardless of how we look at them we will be unable to see what makes these alike. The principle that a form of representation cannot be represented in the sense of described, only represented in the sense of shown, is very important as it is this premise that leads to statement (6. 53). For a proposition to represent of itself would lead to paradox, such as Russell's barber paradox.
It is this picture which we have in our minds so "the logical picture of the facts is the thought" (3). When this thought is "expressed perceptibly through the senses" we have a proposition represented through a "propositional sign." This is elucidated throughout the third section and leads to the statement that "The thought is the significant proposition. " (4). This progression essentially describes these pictures as having logical form which can be is the basis of the sense of thoughts and propositions and how they can communicate something new to us. They all share a logical form that can convey meaning to us.
Logical form is the state of affairs in logical space that is, rightly or wrongly, represented by logical pictures. Wittgenstein also discusses in detail how this affects logic and language, what roles names have in language and their relation to propositions and the nature of tautology and contradictions. His investigations into this area are quite involved. For this reason it will be beyond the scope of this essay (and the scope of its author) to assess them properly.
However it is enough to recognize that Wittgenstein has found with the bounds of logic that the limits can only be discovered from without as all logic leads to tautology and "all propositions of logic say the same thing. That is, nothing. " (5. 43) Furthermore language limits the world to being "my world", the world of the I. For this reason it is impossible to assert that "this and this there is in the world, that there is not. This would require one to step outside the limits of this personal world. Hence it is that when we talk of metaphysical issues or doubt the existence of the world that we are addressing questions without answers and thus meaningless questions.
It is also why the propositions of the Tractatus are senseless. It is precisely because the actual argument can lead to this conclusion in this way that Wittgenstein is able step outside his argument whilst retaining it's relevance. This technical aspect is critical to the overall coherence of his work. Wittgenstein's argument's are not without fault. They are idiosyncratic in both content and presentation as well as deeply involved and complex. Therefore there are many subtleties which have not been fully investigated or understood (certainly not in this essay but maybe not by anyone).
Some of the statements appear to be contradictory and many appear to be insufficiently justified. However when read as a whole and the implications of each claim seems to support the others and the work seems to become axiomatic. None more so than the final claim that to speak of areas of 'knowledge' that we can have no justification of is invalid. This is proved by the action of logical proof and the refutation of that logical proof on it's own grounds.
The argument shows the "strictly correct method" of philosophy and the limits of Kenny, A-The Wittgenstein Reader, - (Oxford, Blackwell, 1994) Bibliography:
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Research essay sample on Form Of Representation Represented In The Sense Facts
