Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus · Chapter
4.013 explained
Wittgenstein argues that the pictorial nature of propositions is not undermined by apparent irregularities in notation, such as sharps and flats in musical scores, because these irregularities still depict what they intend to express, albei
What happens
Wittgenstein argues that the pictorial nature of propositions is not undermined by apparent irregularities in notation, such as sharps and flats in musical scores, because these irregularities still depict what they intend to express, albeit in a different manner.
Themes in this chapter
Picture Theory of Language
The chapter reinforces the idea that propositions are pictures of reality, and that notational irregularities do not disrupt this picturing function.
Characters to notice
- Mr. Wittgenstein
Author of the Tractatus, presenting the argument about the pictorial nature of language.
Key passages
“And if we penetrate to the essence of this pictorial nature we see that this is not disturbed by apparent irregularities (like the use of ♯ and ♭ in the score). For these irregularities also picture what they are to express; only in another way.”
When we understand the fundamental picturing nature of propositions, we realize that surface-level irregularities—such as sharps and flats in music notation—do not undermine it, because they still depict their intended meaning, just through a different method.
Wittgenstein uses musical notation as an example to show that variations in expression do not break the logical picturing relation.