Philosophy, Ludwig Wittgenstein once wrote, should actually be written only as poetry. That Tractatus Logico-PhilosophicusWittgensteins master-work, and the only book he published during his lifetimeendures as the definitive modern text on the limits of logic, inspiring artists and philosophers alike, comes as no surprise. Consisting of 525 hierarchically numbered declarative statements, each one self-evident, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus is imbued, as translator Damion Searls writes, with the kind of cryptic grandeur and awe-inspiring opacity we might expectmight wantfrom such an iconic philosopher. Yet previous translations, in their eagerness to replicate German phrasing and syntax, have a stilted, even redolently Victorian air. With this new translation and an important introduction on the language of the book, prefaced by eminent scholar Marjorie Perloff, Searls finally does justice to Wittgensteins enigmatic masterpiece, capturing the fluid and forceful language of the original without sacrificing its philosophical rigourindeed, making Wittgensteins philosophy clearer than ever before in English.
