Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus · Chapter
3.315 explained
Wittgenstein discusses how turning constituent parts of a proposition into variables yields a class of propositions that initially depends on arbitrary meaning assignments, but when all arbitrarily determined signs are made variables, the r
What happens
Wittgenstein discusses how turning constituent parts of a proposition into variables yields a class of propositions that initially depends on arbitrary meaning assignments, but when all arbitrarily determined signs are made variables, the resulting class depends solely on the logical form or prototype of the proposition.
Themes in this chapter
Logical Atomism
The analysis of propositions into variable components reveals underlying logical forms independent of arbitrary conventions.
Characters to notice
- Mr. Wittgenstein
Author of the proposition; presents the logical transformation of propositions into variables.
Key passages
“If we change a constituent part of a proposition into a variable, there is a class of propositions which are all the values of the resulting variable proposition.”
Replacing a part of a proposition with a variable generates a set of propositions that are the possible substitutions for that variable.
Introduces the concept of variable propositions and their resulting classes.
“But if we change all those signs, whose meaning was arbitrarily determined, into variables, there always remains such a class. But this is now no longer dependent on any agreement; it depends only on the nature of the proposition.”
When all signs with arbitrary meanings are turned into variables, the resulting class of propositions depends solely on the logical form of the original proposition, not on any conventional assignments.
Highlights the shift from arbitrary meaning to logical necessity.