“Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent. But this does not mean that those things are less important. The most important things are often precisely those that cannot be said but can only be shown.”
—
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Attributed to Wittgenstein; represents the spirit of his later philosophy, developed throughout Philosophical Investigations
Commentary
Wittgenstein distinguishes between saying (propositional, truth-apt) and showing (demonstrative, lived). Ethics, aesthetics, and the sacred are shown through how we live, not said through propositions. 'Show don't tell' becomes a philosophical principle.
This influenced ethical philosophy and spirituality. The ethical and transcendent are not cognitively empty but experientially profound. This was Wittgenstein's response to the mysticism he acknowledged in the Tractatus but extended through his life.
Commentary
Wittgenstein distinguishes between saying (propositional, truth-apt) and showing (demonstrative, lived). Ethics, aesthetics, and the sacred are shown through how we live, not said through propositions. 'Show don't tell' becomes a philosophical principle.
This influenced ethical philosophy and spirituality. The ethical and transcendent are not cognitively empty but experientially profound. This was Wittgenstein's response to the mysticism he acknowledged in the Tractatus but extended through his life.