Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus · Chapter
4.064 explained
Wittgenstein argues that a proposition must already possess a sense prior to any act of assertion or denial; assertion does not confer sense but rather asserts the sense that is already there.
What happens
Wittgenstein argues that a proposition must already possess a sense prior to any act of assertion or denial; assertion does not confer sense but rather asserts the sense that is already there.
Themes in this chapter
Nonsense and Meaning
The proposition's sense is intrinsic, not bestowed by assertion.
Characters to notice
- Mr. Wittgenstein
Author of the proposition that sense precedes assertion.
Key passages
“Every proposition must already have a sense; assertion cannot give it a sense, for what it asserts is the sense itself.”
A proposition's meaning is inherent; asserting it does not create its meaning but merely affirms the meaning it already has.
Clarifies that sense is a precondition of assertion, not a product of it.