Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus · Chapter
4.015 explained
Wittgenstein argues that the possibility of all similes and images in language is grounded in the logic of representation, suggesting that figurative language is not arbitrary but rooted in the fundamental structure of how language pictures
What happens
Wittgenstein argues that the possibility of all similes and images in language is grounded in the logic of representation, suggesting that figurative language is not arbitrary but rooted in the fundamental structure of how language pictures reality.
Themes in this chapter
Picture Theory of Language
The logic of representation underlies all similes and images, reinforcing the idea that language pictures reality.
Characters to notice
- Mr. Wittgenstein
Author of the proposition; presents the foundational role of the logic of representation in enabling similes and imagery in language.
Key passages
“The possibility of all similes, of all the images of our language, rests on the logic of representation.”
Every metaphor and mental picture we use in language is possible only because of the underlying logical structure of how language represents the world.
Wittgenstein connects figurative language to the fundamental logic of representation.