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Logic pervades the world: the limits of the world are also its limits. So we cannot say in logic, 'The world has this in it, and this, but not that.' For that would appear to presuppose that we were excluding certain possibilities, and this cannot be the case, since it would require that logic should go beyond the limits of the world; for only in that way could it view those limits from the other side as well. We cannot think what we cannot think; so what we cannot think we cannot say either. (5.61)

Ludwig Wittgenstein#25

PhilosophyLanguageLogicLimitsBoundaries

About this quote

What does it mean?
Logic defines the limits of thought and language; what cannot be thought cannot be said.
In plain terms
Logic sets the boundary of what we can think and say.
What can you take from it?
Logic sets the limits of thought.

Where it applies

  • philosophical inquiry
  • theoretical limits
  • science

Putting it to work

  • respect boundaries
  • clarify logical limits
  • accept ineffability

Questions to consider

  • What can you not say?
  • Is logic the limit of reality?

Another view

Some truths might exist beyond logical formulation.

More from Ludwig Wittgenstein

  1. The limits of my language mean the limits of my world. (5.6)

    Permalink to quote #24
  2. This remark provides the key to the problem, how much truth there is in solipsism. For what the solipsist means is quite correct; only it cannot be said, but m…

    Permalink to quote #26
  3. If I cannot say a priori what elementary propositions there are, then the attempt to do so must lead to obvious nonsense. (5.5571)

    Permalink to quote #23

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