Abstract

This paper aims to revisit Wittgenstein’s notion of ‘higher’ from the understanding of Sankara’s conception of Jnana. According to Wittgenstein, values cannot be captured within the network of facts about living things or dead matters in the world; they are not the case in the world and are not relational, they are higher. That is why, we cannot call values natural in any sense of the expression. This compels Wittgenstein to appeal to the transcendental origin of the values. In this way, the world is bereft of the values and subsequently the knowledge about the values can be attained when the self is to be seen not in the world, rather be experienced with the world. The knowledge that Wittgenstein speaks about is not the ordinary knowledge of the world which logic and science provide, but is the knowledge of the divine state where one can grasp the oneness of the life and world. Such knowledge of moral interaction between the self and world seems to be closer to Sankara’s conception of Jnana which gives the knowledge of the identity of Jiva and Brahman. According to Sankara, it is a paramarthika experience of the atman which can attain the knowledge of absolute value or Brahman while remaining engaged in the worldly pursuits. The knowledge of absolute value for him, is a form of realization or anubhava of the self or atman which is distinct from knowledge of an intellectual or logical kind. Keywords: Wittgenstein, Sankara, world, self, higher, Brahman