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Single Idea 7090

[filed under theme 7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 6. Fundamentals / d. Logical atoms ]

Full Idea

The 'Tractatus' is an uncompromising, indeed an extreme, example of 'Logical Atomism'

Gist of Idea

The 'Tractatus' is an extreme example of 'Logical Atomism'

Source

report of Ludwig Wittgenstein (Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus [1921]) by A.C. Grayling - Wittgenstein Ch.2

Book Ref

Grayling,A.C.: 'Wittgenstein' [OUP 2001], p.71

A Reaction

Russell talked about his 'logical atomism' after 1918, but this reminds us that Wittgenstein was fulfilling a task set for him by Russell. Wittgenstein's atoms are names-plus-objects, Russell's are demonstratives-plus-sensedata.

The 100 ideas from 'Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus'

9810 The 'Tractatus' is a masterpiece of anti-philosophy [Badiou on Wittgenstein]
10910 The best account of truth-making is isomorphism [Wittgenstein, by Mulligan/Simons/Smith]
18349 All truths have truth-makers, but only atomic truths correspond to them [Wittgenstein, by Rami]
10967 Wittgenstein's picture theory is the best version of the correspondence theory of truth [Read on Wittgenstein]
7087 Language is [propositions-elementary propositions-names]; reality is [facts-states of affairs-objects] [Wittgenstein, by Grayling]
4702 The account of truth in the 'Tractatus' seems a perfect example of the correspondence theory [Wittgenstein, by O'Grady]
6428 Wittgenstein is right that logic is just tautologies [Wittgenstein, by Russell]
18154 The sign of identity is not allowed in 'Tractatus' [Wittgenstein, by Bostock]
13429 The identity sign is not essential in logical notation, if every sign has a different meaning [Wittgenstein, by Ramsey]
7537 Wittgenstein convinced Russell that logic is tautologies, not Platonic forms [Wittgenstein, by Monk]
9467 Wittgenstein tried unsuccessfully to reduce quantifiers to conjunctions and disjunctions [Wittgenstein, by Jacquette]
13830 Logical truths are just 'by-products' of the introduction rules for logical constants [Wittgenstein, by Hacking]
6849 Wittgenstein hated logicism, and described it as a cancerous growth [Wittgenstein, by Monk]
7090 The 'Tractatus' is an extreme example of 'Logical Atomism' [Wittgenstein, by Grayling]
23507 Unlike the modern view of a set of worlds, Wittgenstein thinks of a structured manifold of them [Wittgenstein, by White,RM]
7088 Logic and maths can't say anything about the world, since, as tautologies, they are consistent with all realities [Wittgenstein, by Grayling]
23479 The Tractatus aims to reveal the necessities, without appealing to synthetic a priori truths [Wittgenstein, by Morris,M]
17665 The 'Tractatus' is instrumentalist about laws of nature [Wittgenstein, by Armstrong]
7084 What can be said is what can be thought, so language shows the limits of thought [Wittgenstein, by Grayling]
23499 This book says we should either say it clearly, or shut up [Wittgenstein]
23459 This work solves all the main problems, but that has little value [Wittgenstein]
13133 The world is facts, not things. Facts determine the world, and the world divides into facts [Wittgenstein]
22311 The world is determined by the facts, and there are no further facts [Wittgenstein]
23462 He says the world is the facts because it is the facts which fix all the truths [Wittgenstein, by Morris,M]
11027 To know an object you must know all its possible occurrences [Wittgenstein]
22321 To know an object we must know the form and content of its internal properties [Wittgenstein, by Potter]
23470 Each thing is in a space of possible facts [Wittgenstein]
23465 The 'form' of an object is its possible roles in facts [Wittgenstein]
23467 Objects are simple [Wittgenstein]
6429 All complex statements can be resolved into constituents and descriptions [Wittgenstein]
23466 Objects are the substance of the world [Wittgenstein]
23469 An imagined world must have something in common with the real world [Wittgenstein]
12869 Two objects may only differ in being different [Wittgenstein]
23468 Apart from the facts, there is only substance [Wittgenstein]
23464 In atomic facts the objects hang together like chain links [Wittgenstein]
23471 The structure of an atomic fact is how its objects combine; this possibility is its form [Wittgenstein]
23473 Do his existent facts constitute the world, or determine the world? [Morris,M on Wittgenstein]
22313 The existence of atomic facts is a positive fact, their non-existence a negative fact [Wittgenstein]
23482 The 'form' of the picture is its possible combinations [Wittgenstein]
7056 Pictures reach out to or feel reality, touching at the edges, correlating in its parts [Wittgenstein]
23483 Proposition elements correlate with objects, but the whole picture does not correspond to a fact [Wittgenstein, by Morris,M]
23486 Pictures are possible situations in logical space [Wittgenstein]
23485 No pictures are true a priori [Wittgenstein]
23487 What is thinkable is possible [Wittgenstein]
7089 A name is primitive, and its meaning is the object [Wittgenstein]
23506 Names are primitive, and cannot be analysed [Wittgenstein]
2939 If a sign is useless it is meaningless; that is the point of Ockham's maxim [Wittgenstein]
23492 Our language is an aspect of biology, and so its inner logic is opaque [Wittgenstein]
23510 Most philosophical questions arise from failing to understand the logic of language [Wittgenstein]
18268 Apparent logical form may not be real logical form [Wittgenstein]
8172 To understand a proposition means to know what is the case if it is true [Wittgenstein]
23488 Propositions are understood via their constituents [Wittgenstein]
23489 We translate by means of proposition constituents, not by whole propositions [Wittgenstein]
23511 Propositions use old expressions for a new sense [Wittgenstein]
10905 My fundamental idea is that the 'logical constants' do not represent [Wittgenstein]
22314 On white paper a black spot is a positive fact and a white spot a negative fact [Wittgenstein]
23508 Science is all the true propositions [Wittgenstein]
7968 A relation is internal if it is unthinkable that its object should not possess it [Wittgenstein]
7969 The order of numbers is an internal relation, not an external one [Wittgenstein]
7784 'Object' is a pseudo-concept, properly indicated in logic by the variable x [Wittgenstein]
21682 If a proposition is elementary, no other elementary proposition contradicts it [Wittgenstein]
22319 Analysis must end in elementary propositions, which are combinations of names [Wittgenstein]
18277 If q implies p, that is justified by q and p, not by some 'laws' of inference [Wittgenstein]
21683 Nothing can be inferred from an elementary proposition [Wittgenstein]
16907 If the truth doesn't follow from self-evidence, then self-evidence cannot justify a truth [Wittgenstein]
23493 'Not' isn't an object, because not-not-p would then differ from p [Wittgenstein]
11062 Logic is a priori because it is impossible to think illogically [Wittgenstein]
16909 Logic is a priori because we cannot think illogically [Wittgenstein]
6056 Identity is not a relation between objects [Wittgenstein]
22322 You can't define identity by same predicates, because two objects with same predicates is assertable [Wittgenstein]
6057 Two things can't be identical, and self-identity is an empty concept [Wittgenstein]
23498 The modern idea of the subjective soul is composite, and impossible [Wittgenstein]
23475 The form of a proposition must show why nonsense is unjudgeable [Wittgenstein]
2938 The limits of my language means the limits of my world [Wittgenstein]
23502 Logic fills the world, to its limits [Wittgenstein]
23497 Solipsism is correct, but can only be shown, not said, by the limits of my personal language [Wittgenstein]
2940 The subject stands outside our understanding of the world [Wittgenstein]
23501 There is no a priori order of things [Wittgenstein]
23503 Strict solipsism is pure realism, with the self as a mere point in surrounding reality [Wittgenstein]
18153 A number is a repeated operation [Wittgenstein]
18160 The concept of number is just what all numbers have in common [Wittgenstein]
18161 The theory of classes is superfluous in mathematics [Wittgenstein]
18162 The propositions of logic are analytic tautologies [Wittgenstein]
23495 The tautologies of logic show the logic of language and the world [Wittgenstein]
15089 Logical proof just explicates complicated tautologies [Wittgenstein]
19292 Logic doesn't split into primitive and derived propositions; they all have the same status [Wittgenstein]
23509 The logic of the world is shown by tautologies in logic, and by equations in mathematics [Wittgenstein]
23504 Logic concerns everything that is subject to law; the rest is accident [Wittgenstein]
2941 Induction accepts the simplest law that fits our experiences [Wittgenstein]
9442 The only necessity is logical necessity [Wittgenstein]
17673 The modern worldview is based on the illusion that laws explain nature [Wittgenstein]
23496 Two colours in the same place is ruled out by the logical structure of colour [Wittgenstein]
2942 The sense of the world must lie outside the world [Wittgenstein]
2943 Ethics cannot be put into words [Wittgenstein]
2944 If a question can be framed at all, it is also possible to answer it [Wittgenstein]
6591 Doubts can't exist if they are inexpressible or unanswerable [Wittgenstein]
7086 Good philosophy asserts science, and demonstrates the meaninglessness of metaphysics [Wittgenstein]
23512 Once you understand my book you will see that it is nonsensical [Wittgenstein]
2937 What we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence [Wittgenstein]
6870 I say (contrary to Wittgenstein) that philosophy expresses what we thought we must be silent about [Ansell Pearson on Wittgenstein]