Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus · Chapter
4.061 explained
Wittgenstein warns against the misconception that truth and falsehood are symmetrical relations between signs and what they signify, emphasizing that propositions have a sense independent of the facts.
What happens
Wittgenstein warns against the misconception that truth and falsehood are symmetrical relations between signs and what they signify, emphasizing that propositions have a sense independent of the facts.
Themes in this chapter
Nonsense and Meaning
Highlights that propositions have a sense independent of facts, countering the confusion that truth and falsehood are equal relations.
Characters to notice
- Mr. Wittgenstein
Author of the proposition, clarifying the independence of propositional sense from factual truth.
Key passages
“If one does not observe that propositions have a sense independent of the facts, one can easily believe that true and false are two relations between signs and things signified with equal rights.”
If you fail to see that a proposition's meaning does not depend on whether it is true, you might mistakenly think that truth and falsity are just two equally valid ways that signs relate to what they stand for.
Clarifies the independence of sense from truth-value.