Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus · Chapter
5.231 explained
This brief proposition states that the possibility of forming a new proposition from given ones depends on their formal properties, specifically the internal similarity of their forms.
What happens
This brief proposition states that the possibility of forming a new proposition from given ones depends on their formal properties, specifically the internal similarity of their forms.
Themes in this chapter
Logical Atomism
The notion that propositions can be combined based on formal properties and internal similarity of forms is central to the logical atomist project of analyzing complex propositions into elementary ones.
Key passages
“And that will naturally depend on their formal properties, on the internal similarity of their forms.”
Whether one proposition can be formed from others depends on the logical structure they share.
This clarifies that the combinatorial possibilities of propositions are determined by their logical form, not their content.