Ms-139a,1r Mr. Chairman, Ladies & Gentlemen!-

Before I begin to speak about- my subject proper let me say a few introductory words. I feel I will have great- difficulties in communicating the thoughts- which I want to communicate, to you- & I want to mention some of these- difficulties because I think that this- may possibly diminish them. The- first I will mention – but - by no means the greatest – is that, as- you know, English is not my native- language & my expression will therefore- not be as clear & precise as it would- be desirable when one has something- very difficult to communicate. Please- help me in my task of making myself- understood by overlooking as much- as possible the faults against - English grammar which will constantly- occur in my speech. The second difficulty which I will mention seems to- me to be by far more serious & to explain it I must tell you why I have- chosen the subject I have- chosen. When your former secretary- honoured me by asking me to read- a paper to your society the first- thought that came into my head was- that I would certainly do it- & the second was this: I said to- myself that if I had the opportunity of talking to a room full of Ms-139a,1v people that I would use this opportunity to say something that comes- from my heart & not to misuse- the time that I was given by explaining some- scientific matter to you which to- be properly explained would need a- course of lectures or an audience- specially trained in one particular line of- thought & that I would still less- misuse this opportunity of speaking to you by giving you- a popular lecture, say on logic,- which would serve to make you- believe that you understand a- thing which as a matter of fact- you don't understand (& which it is- not a bit necessary that you- should) & to gratify the very lowest- of modern desires viz. the superficial- curiosity about the latest discoveries- of scientists- I decided – I say – that I should- use this opportunity to speak to- you not as a logician, still- less as a cross between a scientist- & a journalist but as a human- being who tries to- tell other human beings something- which some of them might possibly find- useful, I say useful not interesting.- The third and last difficulty I will- mention is one that adheres -to most philosophical -explanations & it is this that it sometimes- is almost impossible to explain a Ms-139a,2r - matter in such a way that the hearer at- once sees the road he is lead & the- endend || goal to which it leads. That is to say- it so very often happens that- the hearer thinks “I understand- perfectly what he says but- what on earth is he driving at” or- else that he sees what one is- driving at & thinks “that's all very well- but how is he going to get there”. - This perhaps is the gravest difficulty & all I can do is to ask you to be- patient & to hope that in the end we- will see both the road & where- it leads to. – Now let me begin.

My subject is Ethics & I will- adopt the definition or explanation- which Prof. Moore has given in his- Principia Ethica which is: Ethics- is the general enquiry into what- is good. I will just modify this- slightly & say: “Ethics is the general- enquiry into what is valuable”. I do- this because I want to include in my- notion of Ethics also what is commonly understood to belong to the subject matter of Aesthetics. The reason- for this will perhaps get clear- later on.

Now let me point out first- of all that in our definition of Ethics- I might have substituted many- other words for the word “valuable”.- And I will enumerate some of- them which seem to me to be Ms-139a,2v synonyms so far at any rate as their meaning is- important to us and by enumerating- them I want to produce the same- sort of effect that Galton produced when he copied a number of- different faces on the same photographic plate in order to get the- picture of the typical features- they all have in common.And- as by looking atlooking at || shewing to you such a photo- you canyou can || I could make you see what is the typical,- say, Chinese face so if you look- as it were through all the- synonyms which I will place- one behind the other in front of you,- you will see which feature common- to them all I want you to look- at in each of them. -

Now instead of saying “Ethics is the- enquiry into what is valuable” I- might have said it is the enquiry into- what is of absolute importance or into- what is the meaning of life or what- makes life worth living. - And if you hold all these expressions- together “value”, “good”, “great”, “right”, “sense of- life”, “that what makes life worth living”,- “worth” etc. you will I believe see- what it is I am concerned with.-

Now the first thing I want you to- notice about all these expressions- is that they can all be used in two Ms-139a,3r different senses: I will call them- the relative & the absolute or ethical use. - The relative use of these words is their- use relative to some predetermined- end. When I say “this is a good piano”- I mean it comes up to a certain- standard of tone etc. which I have fixed & which- I conceive as its purpose. It has- only sense to say that a piano- is good if you have previously- fixed what sort of qualities a- piano must have to deserve that- name. And the same applies when- I say that a man is a good- piano player or a good golf player- or that a road is good etc. In all such- cases “good” simply means: coming- up to a certain standard which- I have previously fixed. The same- applies to the word “important” in - the relative sense. In this sense- we say something is important for- a certain purpose. The same applies- to “right”. The right road is that- which leads to the place I want- to go to. It is right relative- to the desired end. In this relative- sense the words “value”, “good”,- “importance” etc. are easily understood- & present no great problems.

Now in Ethics- these same words are used apparently- in a different sense. Supposing- I could play the piano & one of you Ms-139a,3v a great connoisseur of piano playing- heard me & said, “Well you're playing- pretty badly” & suppose I answered- him: “I know I'm playing badly- but I don't want to play any- better”. All the connoisseur could- say would be “well then that's all- right”, & there would be an end to- the discussion. The connoisseur would- have judged me by certain standards which he could if necessary explain & I- would agree that he had ranked- me rightly. Now take another case- suppose I had told one of you a- preposterous lie & this man came to- me & said “look here you have- behaved like a beast” & now I- were to answer “Yes I know I behaved- badly but then I didn't want- to behave any better”. Would he then say - “then that's all right”? He would say “well you ought- to want to behave better”. The- difference was that this man was making- an ethical judgment whereas the- connoisseur made a relative- judgment.

Now the essence of this- difference seems to me to be obviously- this: Every judgment of relative value,- goodness, importance etc. is a- simple statement of facts & can be- put in such a form that it looses all- appearance of a judgment of value. - Instead of saying “this is the right Ms-139a,4r road” I can say equally well “this is- the road that leads me to where- I want to go”. “This is a good piano- player” simply means that he can- play pieces of a certain degree of- complicatedness in a certain definable- way. To say “the violin has a good- voice” means it has a tone agreeable- to the ear & so on. Now what I- wish to contend is this that although- all relative judgments can be shown- to be statements of facts no- statement of fact can ever be or- imply what we call an absolute- that is ethical judgment.

Let - me explain this: Suppose- that one of you or I was an omniscient- person who therefore knew all the- movements of all the bodies in the world,- dead or alive who further knew & could describe all- the states of minds of all human- beings that ever were & suppose that- this omniscient person wrote all- he knew, that is everything that- is to be known, in a big book. Then- this book would contain the whole- description of the world. And what- I want to say is that this book- would not contain anything that- we would call an ethical - judgment or anything that- would directly imply such a judgment. It- would of course contain all- relative judgments of value as for Ms-139a,4v instance that so & so is a good or a bad runner- for it would contain the fact- that he ran the distance of 1 mile- in so many minutes & seconds.- The book would of course contain all - true scientific propositions & in fact- all significant & true propositions that- can be made.

Now what I wish to- say is that all facts are as it- were on the same level that there- is no such thing as absolute importance or unimportance in them & that- in the same way all propositions- are on the same level that there- are no propositions which are in any- absolute sense sublime, important or on the other hand- trivial. Now perhaps some of you will- agree to that & be reminded of- Hamlet's words ‒ ‒ ‒. But this again- could lead to misunderstanding. What- Hamlet says seems to imply that good- & bad are not qualities of the world- outside us but attributes of our states- of mind. But what I mean is that- the state of mind so far as we mean- by that a fact which we can describe- is in no ethical sense good or bad.

If for instance in our world book we read the description of an- appalling murder in all the- details physical & psychical that is- with all the pains & anguish the victim- had to endure with all the studied cruelty- of the murderer the mere description of- facts physical & psychical will contain nothing of Ms-139a,5r which we could say that this is an- ethical proposition. The murder- will be on exactly the same level- as any other event for instance the- falling of a stone. Certainly the- reading of this description might- cause us pain or rage or any other- emotions or we might read about- the pain or rage caused by this- murder in other people when they- got to know it but there will simply- be facts facts & facts but no- Ethics. –

And now I must say- that if I contemplate what- Ethics really would have to be if- there were such a science this seems to- me quite obvious. It seems to me- quite obvious that nothing we could- ever think or say should be the- thing. That we can't write a scientific book- the subject matter of which is- intrinsically sublime, above all other- subject matters. I can only describe- my feeling by the metaphor that- if a man could write a book about- Ethics which really was a book- on Ethics this would with an- explosion destroy all the other- books in the world. Our words used- as we use them in science are vessels- capable only to contain & convey- meaning & sense, natural meaning- & sense. Ethics if it is anything- is supernatural & our words Ms-139a,5v will only express facts as a teacup- will only hold a teacup full- of water & if I was to pour out a gallon- over it.

I said that so far as- facts & propositions are concerned- there is only relative value &- relative good, right etc. And let- me, before I go on, illustrate this- by a rather obvious example: The- right road is the road which leads- to an arbitrarily predetermined end & it is- quite clear to us all that it has no sense in ordinary- life to talk about thethe || a right- road apart from such a predetermined- end, that there is no such thing as the- right road. Now let us see what- we could possibly mean by the- expression “the absolutely right road”. I think- it would be the road which everybody- if he sees it would with logical- necessity have to go or be ashamed- of not going. Generally speaking, the- absolute good, if it is a describable- state of affairs, would be one that- everybody irrespectiveirrespective || independent of his tastes- and inclinations would necessarily- bring about- or feel guilty for not bringing about.- And I want to say that such a state- of affairs is a chimera. – No state of affairs containscontains || has the coercive power in itself. Then what do- all of us who are, like myself, still- tempted to use such phrasesphrases || expressions as Ms-139a,6r “absolute good”, “absolute value” etc. what- have they in mind & what do we try- to express?

Now whenever I try- to make this clear to myself it is- natural that I should try to- recall in which cases- I would certainly use- these expressions & I am then in- the situation in which you would- be if for instance I were to- give you a lecture, say, on the psychology of pleasure. What you would- do then would be to try and recall- some typical situation in which you- always felt pleasure, for, bearing- this situation in mind, all which- I would have to say to you about- pleasure would become concrete &,- as it were, controllable. One man- would for instance choose as his stock- example of pleasure the sensation which- he has when taking a walk on a fine- summer's morning & or some such occasion. Now- in this situation I am if I want to- fix my mind on what I mean by absolute- or ethical value. And there in my case- it always happens that the idea of one- particular experience presents itself- to my mind which therefore is for me in a- sense the experience par excellence &- this is the reason why in talking to you now- I am using it as my first- & foremost example. (As I have said this Ms-139a,6v is really a personal matter & others- would find other examples more- striking.) -I will describe- this experience in order if possible- to make you recall to your minds- the same or similar experiences- so that we may have a common- ground for our investigation. Now the- best way of describing my experience- is to say that when I have it I- wonder at the existence of the- world. And I am then inclined to use- such a phrase as “how extraordinary- that anything should exist”, or “how extraordinary that the world should exist”.- I will mention another experience straight- away which I also know & which others- of you might be acquainted with & this- is what one might call the experience- of feeling absolutely safe. I mean- the state in which one says to oneself- I am safe nothing can injure me- whatever happens.

Now let me consider- these experiences because they exhibit- I believe the very characteristics we- want to get clear about. Now there the- first thing I have to say is that the- verbal expression which we give to- these experiences is nonsense! If- I say I wonder at the existence of- the world I am misusing language.- Let me explain this: It has a perfectly- good and an intelligible sense to say Ms-139a,7r that I wonder at something being the- case. We all understand what- it means when I say that I wonder- at a dog which is bigger than any dog- I have ever seen before or at any- other thing which in the common sense- of the word is “extraordinary”. In every- such case I wonder at something being- the case which I could conceive not- to be the case. I wonder at the size- of this dog because I could conceive- of a dog of another namely the ordinary- size at which I would not wonder.- To say I wonder at such & such- being the case has only sense if- I can imagine it not to be the case.- In this sense one can wonder at the- existence of say a house when one sees it &- hasn't visited it for many years & has- imagined that it had been pulled down- in the meantime. But it is nonsense- to say that I wonder at the existence of the world because I cannot- imagine it not existing. I could- of course wonder at the world round me- being as it is. For instance if I- had the experience of wonder while looking- into the blue sky I could wonder- at the sky being blue as opposed- to the case where it's clouded. But- that's not what I mean. I am wondering at the sky being whatever it- is. One might be tempted to say- that what I am wondering at is a- tautology, namely at the sky being blue- or not being blue. But then it's just Ms-139a,7v that it's nonsense to say that one- wonders at a tautology. The verbal- expression “do with it what I may”- remains nonsense & I think it- is essential that it should do- so.

Now the same applies to that- other experience which I have mentioned- the experience of absolute- safety. We all know what it means- in ordinary life to be safe. I am- safe in my rooms when I cannot be- run over by an omnibus. I am safe- if I have had whooping cough once- & cannot therefore have it again. That is “to be- safe” essentially means that it is- physically impossibleimpossible || improbable that certain- things should happen to me, & therefore- it's nonsense to say that I am safe- whatever happens. Again it is a- misuse of the word “safe” as the other example- was a misuse of the word “existence”.

Now I want to impress on you that- a certain characteristic misuse- of language runs through all- ethical & religious expressions. I can- perhaps best describe it in this way:- When it has become clear to one that- there is amongst significant propositions- no such thing as a judgment of- absolute value the first thought I- believe is that all ethical & religious- propositions are really only similes &- that is what they seem to be. It- seems that when we are using the- word “right” in an ethical sense although Ms-139a,8r what we mean is not what we mean by “right” when- we say “this is the right road to- Grantchester” it's something similar &- when we say “this is a good fellow”- we don't mean it in the same sense- as when we say “he is a good football -player” but there is some similarity.- And when we say “the life of this- man was valuable” we don't mean- it in the same sense as when we say- “this piece of jewelry is valuable” but- there seems to be some sort of- connection.

Now all religious terms - seem in this sense to be used as- similes or allegorically. For when we- speak of God & that he sees & hears- everything & when we kneel & pray to- him it isis || seems obvious that all our terms- & actions are part of a bigbig || great & elaborate allegory- which represents him as a human being- of great power whose grace we try to- win etc. etc.. Now this simile also- extends over the two experiences which- I have described above in fact the- first of them wondering at the existence- of the world is I believe exactly what- people were referring to when- they said that God had created the- world & the experience of absolute- safety is described by saying that- we are safe under God's protection.- A third experience which belongs- to this realm is the experience of- feeling guilty & again that was described Ms-139a,9r by the phrase that God disapproves of our- conduct.

I have said- that whenever we describe ethical- or religious experiences we seem to- use language only to make up similes.- But a simile must be the simile- for something & if I can express a- fact by means of a simile I must- also be able to drop the simile and- to explain the facts without it. Now- what happens to us in this case is- that as soon as we try to drop the- simile & try to state simply the facts- that stand behind them we find- that there are no such facts. And so- what at first appeared to be similes- now seems to be mere nonsense.-

Now the three experiences which I- mentioned before (and I could have- added some more) seem to those- who have experienced them for instance to me to - have in some sense an intrinsic- an absolute value. But when I say- they are experiences surely they are- facts, they have taken place then &- there, lasted a certain definite time- & consequently are describable. And so, from- what I said some minutes ago I must- admit it is nonsense to say that- they have absolute value. And here- I have arrived at the main point of- this paper & it is the paradox that an experience an experience || Ms-139a,10r a fact should have an absolute value.- And I will make the point still more- acute by saying, that an experiencean experience || a fact should- have a supernatural value.

Now the- way I would be tempted at first- to meet this paradox is this: Let- me consider again the experience of- wondering at existence & let me describe it in a slightly different way: We all- know what in ordinary life would- be called a miracle: It obviously is- simply an event the like of which- we have never yet seen. Now suppose- such an event happened. Take the case- that one of you suddenly grew a lion's- head & began to roar certainly that's- as extraordinary a thing as I can imagine. Now whenever we would have- recovered from our surprise what- I would suggest is to fetch a physiologist & have the case scientifically- investigated & if it were not for being afraid- of hurting him I'd have him vivisected.- And where would the miracle have- gone to, for it is clear that looking- at it in this way everything miraculous- has disappeared unless what we- mean by “miraculous” is merely that- a fact has not yet been explained- by science which again means merely that Ms-139a,11r we have hitherto failed to group this- fact with others in a scientific- system. This means that it- has no sense to say “science has- proved that there are no miracles”.- No: the scientific way of looking- at a fact is not the way to look at- it as a miracle. For imagine whatever- fact you may, it is not in itself a- miracle in the absolute sense & one is in itself not more or less- miraculous than the other. I once heard- a preacher in a Cambridge church say- that of course there were still miracles- happening only look at the tiny little- seed from which a tree grows. But- this is wrong for is this more- miraculous than that a stone falls- or in fact any thing which happens- whatever happens! Again we see that- we have used the term “miracle” in- a relative & an absolute sense. In- the relative sense it simply meant- a hitherto unknown kind of event.- Well that's a trivial meaning. But- when we are tempted to use it in- what I would like to call a deep- sense then we want it to mean- that we wonder at it not because of- the rarity of what has happenedwhat has happened || the event but- because what has happened has happened- whatever has happened. And here we have- the misuse of the word “to wonder” which- we talked about previously. –

In fact Ms-139a,11v what I then called to wonder at- the existence of the world I- might have equally well described- as the experience of looking at- existence as a miracle. Now I am- tempted to say that the right expression in language for the miracle- of the existence of the world is the- miracle of the existence of language- but what - does it mean to notice this- miracle some times & not at other times?- For all I have said by- shifting the expression of the miraculous- from an expression by means of- language to the expression by- the existence of language, all- I have said is again that we- can not express what we want to- express & that all we say about it- isis || remains nonsense.

Now the answer- to all this will seem perfectly clear to- many of you. You will say: Well if certain- experiences constantly tempt us to- attribute a quality to them which we- call absolute or ethical value &- importance this simply shows that- by these words we do not mean nonsense- that after all what we mean by- saying that an experience has absolute- value is just a fact like other facts Ms-139a,12r & that is to say that my contention- in the beginning of this paper when I- said that no describable fact- could ever be or imply an absolute judgment- was wrong. Now when this is urged- against me I (immediately) see as it were in a flash of light,- not only that no description that- I can think of would do- to describe significantly these- experiences, but that I would- reject every explanation that- anybody could possibly suggest ab initio- on the ground of its significance.

That is to say: I see now that- these nonsensical expressions were- not nonsensical because I had not- yet found the significant explanationexplanation || expression but that their nonsensicality was their very essence- for all I wanted to do with them was just- to go beyond the world & that- is to say beyond language.

But- this is just impossible. My whole- tendency & as I believe the tendency of all those who ever tried to talk or write about Ethics & religion was to run against the- boundaries of language. This running- against the walls of our cage is- perfectly, absolutely, hopeless. I therefore believe- that so far as Ethics springs from the- desire to expressexpress || say something about the - ultimate meaning of life, the absolute good,- the absolute important it can be no Ms-139a,12v science, what it- says does not add to our knowledge- in any sense. But it is a document- of a tendency in the human- mind which I personally cannot help- respecting deeply & I would not- for my life ridicule it. Ms-139a,8v

… of scientific expression they are a- misuse of language in fact they are- nonsense. The word “to wonder” has- of course a good sense which we all- understand if it means to wonder at- a certain state of things to wonder- that such & such is the case. It- has a good & clear sense to say- that I wonder at some unusually- dressed man as I have never seen- before or at some strange sound etc. etc.- It is also clear what it means to- wonder at the existence of say a- building which you thought- had been pulled down long ago- for here it has a meaning to say- “I did not think that this building- still existed” or to say that it does- exist. On the other hand it's nonsense- & not a proposition at all to say that colour & sound- exist & for this reason it's nonsense- to say that I wonder at their- existence. Now the correctcorrect || right expression- of what we mean when we say that- colour & sound etc. exist is not a- proposition at all but really the- vocabulary Ms-139a,9v

Galtonsche Photographie Sense of life,- what makes life worth living Worth. Value, importance Ethics is the enquiry into what- is good.      Ethics is the enquiry into what- is valuable.      Ethics is if anything the natural- science of value.      Distinction between relative & absolute value. Examples.      Statements of relative value, goodness- or importance are statements of- facts which are in no way problematic.       Contrast to judgments of absolute- value. Attitude of the judge to the- judged.      No statement of fact is or implies- an absolute judgment.      Science & the whole realm of- propositions contains no absolute- no ethical judgment.      Still let us investigate such absolute- judgments & that we can only do by- investigating the cases where we are- tempted to make absolute judgements.      I will describe an experience which I always must think about when I want to know what I mean by <…> absolute importance. The experience of wondering at the world at the existence of the world.      Let us analyse this verbal expression of my experience. It is nonsense.      Expression of existence & possibility. There is nothing either good or bad but- thinking makes it so. Ms-139a,10v