If we spoke a different language, we would perceive a somewhat different world.
Ludwig WittgensteinRead
It is an hypothesis that the sun will rise tomorrow: and this means that we do not know whether it will rise.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the uncertainty inherent in all predictions, even those we consider certain, like the sun rising.
Ludwig Wittgenstein's quote invites us to reflect on the nature of knowledge and belief. Even something as seemingly certain as the sun rising has an element of uncertainty; we operate under a hypothesis that it will rise again tomorrow, yet we cannot claim absolute knowledge. This perspective encourages humility in our claims to know the future and acknowledges the limitations of human understanding.
Themes
UncertaintyKnowledgeHypothesisPhilosophyTruth
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the nature of knowledge, one might reference Wittgenstein's quote to illustrate the limits of certainty.
More from Ludwig Wittgenstein
All quotes βOne cannot guess how a word functions. One has to look at its use and learn from that. But the difficulty is to remove the prejudice which stands in the way of doing this. It is not a stupid prejudice.
Ludwig WittgensteinRead
No one likes having offended another person; hence everyone feels so much better if the other person doesn't show he's been offended. Nobody likes being confronted by a wounded spaniel. Remember that. It is much easier patiently - and tolerantly - to avoid the person you have injured than to approach him as a friend. You need courage for that.
Ludwig WittgensteinRead
It's impossible for me to say one word about all that music has meant to me in my life. How, then, can I hope to be understood?
Ludwig WittgensteinRead
Nothing is so difficult as not deceiving oneself.
Ludwig WittgensteinRead
My day passes between logic, whistling, going for walks, and being depressed. I wish to God that I were more intelligent and everything would finally become clear to me - or else that I needn't live much longer.
Ludwig WittgensteinRead
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Every new regulation concerning commerce or revenue; or in any manner affecting the value of the different species of property, presents a new harvest to those who watch the change and can trace its consequences; a harvest reared not by themselves but by the toils and cares of the great body of their fellow citizens. This is a state of things in which it may be said with some truth that laws are made for the few not for the many.
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As for mother Eve - I wasn't there and can't deny the story, but I will say this. If she brought evil into the world, we men have had the lion's share of keeping it going ever since.
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If you live in free countries, you don't have to spend all your life arguing about freedom because it is all around you. It seems redundant to make a lot of noise about something when, in fact, there it is. But if someone tries to remove it, it becomes important for you to formulate your own defenses of it.
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If church prelates, past or present, had even an inkling of physiology they'd realize that what they term this inner ugliness creates and nourishes the hearing ear, the seeing eye, the active mind, and energetic body of man and woman, in the same way that dirt and dung at the roots give the plant its delicate leaves and the full-blown rose.
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Whether I am or am not a Communist is irrelevant. The question is whether American citizens, regardless of their political beliefs or sympathies, may enjoy their constitutional rights.
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With no matter what human being, taken individually, I always find reasons for concluding that sorrow and misfortune do not suit him; either because he seems too mediocre for anything so great, or, on the contrary, too precious to be destroyed.
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