What Wittgenstein Thinks Of Ethics

Abstract

Ethics and religion are connected with values. Although Wittgenstein was not a classical ethicist yet his famous book the Tractatus Logico Philosophicus (TLP), Philosophical Investigation (PI), Culture and Value (CV) etc. consist the possibility, necessity and concept of ethics connection with the linguistic analysis of ontology of the world. His conception of ethics is concerned with the world and the life. For him the exercise of values can alter the limits of the world, not the facts. Ethics, religion and aesthetics are interconnected which lead to mysticism. It cannot promote the meaning of life, and ethical sense is an instrument of the individual’s being-in-the world. Wittgenstein holds that ethical judgment is non-sensible and accordingly ethics leads to mysticism. He distinguishes between showing in the sense of representational language and showing to a right view of the world. Ethics can neither be expressed in statements, nor can it name any sort of truth. The ethical questions belong to metaphysics, and the quest for the ethical life is post-metaphysical. In the broadest sense, neither ethics nor religion can be distinguished, since both disciplines fall within the realm of human action.