Summary of The Experiment
Wittgenstein's thought experiment goes as follows: Suppose there were an omniscient being who knew the position and movements of all of the physical bodies in the world (i.e. all of the natural properties of the world). Suppose further that this omniscient being wrote all of these natural facts in a large book, such that the book contained a thorough and comprehensive description of all of the things in the world. Wittgenstein argues that nothing in this book would even reference the idea of ethics or contain any statement that could logically be construed to imply an ethical judgment. His conclusion is that the concept of a moral fact is nonsensical, since even if one were to know every fact concerning the world that person still would not know anything factual about the realm of ethics.
Read more about this topic: Big Book (thought Experiment)
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