Magritte and Wittgenstein: agree and disagree

Abstract

The author intends to stage an agreement, among the least likely ones, and to say it once and for all, an imaginary one: an agreement of Magritte as an aesthete with Wittgenstein as the logician in Tractatus logic-philosophicus. The excuse for such an agreement lies in the importance that both give to a function of expression —showing— at the expense of another function —saying. It has not been shown yet that such an agreement is not supported in the pure “disguise of thought”, that one and other vilify when ordinary language words are used. The agreement, rather than signaling a commitment or a fair means, leads to a critical situation for both leading characters.