The Chinese Understanding of Wittgenstein’s Mysticism in the Tractatus

Abstract

Wittgenstein’s mysticism has been one of the focuses of critics and commentators of Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. Two prevailing readings hold different attitudes towards it. The classical reading commits to the mysticism in the Tractatus, while the therapeutic reading rejects it amid its interpretation of Wittgenstein’s later philosophy. In this paper, I will argue against both by discussing how the Chinese reading understands the Tractatus. I will show that the ineffable in the Tractatus is not any type of mysticism, and that the Chinese reading of the Tractatus is a metaphysical one without any mysticism.

Key words： Tractatus ; classic reading; therapeutic reading; Chinese reading; mysticism; Wittgenstein; Zhang Shenfu