The Status of Aesthetics in Wittgenstein's Tractatus

• Author / Creator

  Abedinifard, Morteza

• Drawing upon Marie McGinn's non-metaphysical interpretation of Wittgenstein's Tractatus, this thesis attempts to make a connection between the book’s opening and ending remarks. I argue that McGinn's non-metaphysical reading helps us, more than the metaphysical reading, to make a consistent connection between the opening remarks about the world and the ending remarks about the mystical and the status of aesthetics. The preliminary remarks, according to McGinn's interpretation, offer a description of the logical order or form of language rather than presenting a metaphysical theory about the features of a reality prior to language. Espousing McGinn's reading, I argue that what Wittgenstein passes over in silence in the ending remarks is what he does not discuss in the opening remarks. It is the world seen from a different—non-logical or aesthetic—viewpoint, which is essentially different from the logical form of language or the world, or the showable through language.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Ethics
  • Wittgenstein
  • Aesthetics
  • The mystical
  • Metaphysics

• Graduation date

  Fall 2013

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Arts

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3JM4J

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.