Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus · Chapter
5.541 explained
Wittgenstein examines psychological propositions such as 'A thinks that p is the case,' noting that they superficially appear to represent a relation between a subject and a proposition.
What happens
Wittgenstein examines psychological propositions such as 'A thinks that p is the case,' noting that they superficially appear to represent a relation between a subject and a proposition. He criticizes the modern epistemological treatment of these propositions by Russell and Moore, which conceives them as relational.
Themes in this chapter
Critique of Traditional Philosophy
Wittgenstein challenges the relational interpretation of psychological propositions prevalent in modern epistemology.
Characters to notice
- Mr. Wittgenstein
Author of the Tractatus, presenting his critique of psychological proposition forms.
- Bertrand Russell
Mentioned as a modern epistemologist who conceives psychological propositions relationally.
Key passages
“At first sight it appears as if there were also a different way in which one proposition could occur in another. Especially in certain propositional forms of psychology, like “ A thinks, that p is the case,” or “ A thinks p ”, etc. Here it appears superficially as if the proposition p stood to the object A in a kind of relation.”
It initially seems that a proposition can be embedded within another in a special way, particularly in psychological statements such as 'A thinks that p is true' or 'A thinks p,' where it looks like p is related to A.
Wittgenstein identifies the superficial appearance of a relation between a thinking subject and a proposition.
“(And in modern epistemology (Russell, Moore, etc. ) those propositions have been conceived in this way.)”
Contemporary epistemologists like Russell and Moore have indeed interpreted these psychological propositions as expressing a relation between a subject and a proposition.
Wittgenstein references Russell and Moore as proponents of the relational view he is critiquing.