The Joys of Comps

Everyone should be required to read Wittgenstein. Why should I be the only one to have the pleasure (*ahem*) of reading pearls like these? (From Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus) 3.1432 Instead of, 'The complex sign "aRb" says that a stand to b in the relation R,' we ought to put, 'That "a" stands to "b" in a certain relation says that aRb.' 4.112 Philosophy aims at the logical clarification of thoughts. Philosophy is not a body of doctrine but an activity. A philosophical work consists essentially of elucidations. Philosophy does not result in 'philosophical propositions,' but rather in the clarification of propositions. Without philosophy thoughts are, as it were, cloudy and indistinct: its task is to make them clear and to give them sharp boundaries. 5.1311 When we infer q from p v q and ~p, the relation between the propositional forms of 'p v q' and '~p' is masked, in this case, by our mode of signifying. But if instead of 'p v q' we write, for example, 'p|q.|.p|q', and instead of '~p', 'p|p' (p|q = neither p nor q), then the inner connexion becomes obvious. 6.13 Logic is not a body of doctrine, but a mirror-image of the world. Logic is transcendental. 6.421 It is clear that ethics cannot be put into words. Ethics is transcendental.