The Tractatus and the ethical tradition

In this article, I raise the question of the place of Wittgenstein’s Tractatus in the ethical tradition. The remarks I offer are to be considered against the background of an interpretation of the Tractatus that has been labeled as the resolute reading of this work, as well as of Wittgenstein’s philosophy in general. As Cora Diamond has written, the Tractatus works on the liberation from philosophical needs and desires, a liberation from philosophy carried out with philosophical tools: the situation of the Tractatus is similar to that portrayed in Investigations and in later work, which also focuses on the liberation from philosophy for the sake of philosophy.