# 4.011 explained — Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

> Chapter companion for Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus by Ludwig Wittgenstein.

## What happens

Wittgenstein argues that propositions, musical scores, and phonetic spelling may not initially appear as pictures of reality, but upon examination they function as such in an ordinary sense.

## Themes in this chapter

### Picture Theory of Language

Propositions, like musical scores and phonetic spelling, are pictures of what they represent.

## Character check-ins

### Mr. Wittgenstein

Author of the Tractatus, presenting the picture theory of language.

## Key lines

> At the first glance the proposition—say as it stands printed on paper—does not seem to be a picture of the reality of which it treats.

A written proposition does not obviously resemble the reality it describes.

_Introduces the counterintuitive nature of the picture theory._

> But nor does the musical score appear at first sight to be a picture of a musical piece; nor does our phonetic spelling (letters) seem to be a picture of our spoken language.

Similarly, a musical score does not look like the music, nor do letters look like speech.

_Analogies to show that representation can be pictorial without visual resemblance._

> And yet these symbolisms prove to be pictures—even in the ordinary sense of the word—of what they represent.

Nevertheless, these symbol systems are indeed pictures in a straightforward sense.

_Affirms the picture theory across different domains._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se/chapters/4-011
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se/chapters