[C] [Wittrs] Tractatus and Verification
- From: Sean Wilson <whoooo26505@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: wittrsamr@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:07:49 -0800 (PST)
... Recently, one issue that has been raised on the list is to what extent
the Tractatus supports the requirement of empirical verification for
propositions that are not analytic (tautological). What are the arguments
against the idea? The argument for it are as follows:
2.12 A picture is a model of reality
2.131 In a picture the elements of the picture are the representatives of
objects
2.14 What constitutes a picture is that its elements are related to one
another in a determinate way
2.15 The fact that the elements of a picture are related to one another in
a determinate way represents that things are related to one another in the same
way
2. A picture is a fact (2.141)
3. A logical picture of the facts is a thought (3)
4. In the proposition the thought is expressed perceptibly through the senses
(3.1)
4.01 A proposition is a picture of reality
4.023 A proposition must restrict reality to two alternatives: yes or no.
6-something. the correct method of philosophy is to say nothing at all but the
propositions of natural science ... (yada yada)
Add to this the invention of truth-tables.
Given all of this, it would be correct, would it not, to say of any
utterance that is not an analytic proposition, that it must be empirically
verifiable for it to be a "proposition?" So if I say "God is in heaven," this
cannot ever be a proposition even though it seems to have the format of one
(that X resides in the place you can't see). It must reduce to a verifiable
statement of natural science -- is that a correct reading?
Dr. Sean Wilson, Esq.
Assistant Professor
Wright State University
Personal Website: http://seanwilson.org
SSRN papers: http://ssrn.com/author=596860
Discussion Group: http://seanwilson.org/wittgenstein.discussion.html
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