Introduction

I was a Philosophy minor in college, and one of the reasons I did not continue academic Philosophy was that I discovered this book, The Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, by Ludwig Wittgenstein, which in my view ended all philosophical debate and study. Although Wittgenstein himself countered some of these ideas later in life, I still find the Tractatus to be a thought provoking and foundational view from which to approach philosophy; it is the ladder which you climb out of the philosophical cave. Wittgenstein died in 1951, so the Tractatus and his other published works entered the public domain January 1, 2022. The Wittgenstein Project publishes Wittgenstein's works, including the Tractatus, in a well structured format which made building the page possible including new translations. Please refer to that site for further information regarding the translations, the copyright, or other works by Wittgenstein. It is my goal in making this page to present the Tractatus in a new way, as understandable as possible. In the words of the original preface, its object would be attained if there were one person who read it with understanding and to whom it afforded pleasure.