Wittgenstein and the Metaphysics of Silence: “Teaching Without the Use of Words”

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Document Type : Research Paper

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1 Visting Distinguised Professor, School of Education, Tsinghua University, China

2 Professor of History of Education at East China Normal University, Shanghai, China

Abstract

This paper explores the philosophical significance of silence in the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein, focusing primarily on the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (TLP) and the Philosophical Investigations (PI). It argues that Wittgenstein’s “metaphysics of silence” represents not a withdrawal from philosophical inquiry, but a reorientation of its aims and methods—one that has profound implications for how we conceive of teaching and learning. Drawing on interpretations from both resolute and mystical readings of Wittgenstein, the paper situates silence as a threshold concept that demarcates the limits of language while opening space for ethics, aesthetics, pedagogies, and the ineffable. It further contextualizes this silence within the broader philosophical and religious traditions of ineffability and simplicity, revealing new possibilities for Being in an era of information overload. The central thread that runs through the paper is the idea of “teaching without words”—a pedagogical stance that emerges from Wittgenstein’s thought and is echoed in comparative traditions such as Daoism and Buddhism. By examining the role of silence in Wittgenstein’s early and later work, and by placing it in dialogue with these traditions, we aim to show how silence can function as a transformative force in philosophical education and beyond.

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Journal of Philosophical Investigations

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 18 June 2026

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