# 4.013 explained — Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

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

## 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.

## Character check-ins

### Mr. Wittgenstein

Author of the Tractatus, presenting the argument about the pictorial nature of language.

## Key lines

> 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._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se/chapters/4-013
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se/chapters