Single Idea 23488

[catalogued under 19. Language / C. Assigning Meanings / 4. Compositionality]

Full Idea

A proposition is understood by anyone who understands its constituents.

Gist of Idea

Propositions are understood via their constituents

Source

Ludwig Wittgenstein (Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus [1921], 4.024)

Book Reference

Wittgenstein,Ludwig: 'Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (Pears)', ed/tr. Pears,D. /McGuinness,B. [RKP 1961], p.21


A Reaction

The 'constituents' had better include the grammatical relationships. Otherwise it's 'rearrange these words to make a well known saying'. That said, this strikes me as an important truth about language. We assemble sentence meanings.