# 4.064 explained — Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

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

## 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.

## Character check-ins

### Mr. Wittgenstein

Author of the proposition that sense precedes assertion.

## Key lines

> 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._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se/chapters/4-064
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tractatus_logico_philosophicus_se/chapters