All is not gold that glitters: Wittgenstein's Tractatus

In this paper, the author provides arguments to support the view that the strictly philosophical contents of Wittgenstein's Tractatus are in fact quite poor. Wittgenstein, relying on the language of propositional logic, constructs an exceedingly simplified model of the world, of language and knowledge. His understanding of the cognitive image as a mirror reflection of reality appears to be rather naive and bearing little relation to true scientific knowledge. These considerations prompt the conclusion that the importance of Wittgenstein's contribution to 20th century philosophy is often exaggerated. His Tractatus represents any real interest only to analytic philosophers and merits little attention outside that camp.