Symbols in Wittgenstein's Tractatus |
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Authors: | Colin Johnston |
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Affiliation: | Institute of Philosophy, School of Advanced Study, University of London, Senate House, London WC1E 7HU, UK |
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Abstract: | This paper is concerned with the status of a symbol in Wittgenstein's Tractatus . It is claimed in the first section that a Tractarian symbol, whilst essentially a syntactic entity to be distinguished from the mark or sound that is its sign, bears its semantic significance only inessentially. In the second and third sections I pursue this point of exegesis through the Tractarian discussions of nonsense and the context principle respectively. The final section of the paper places the forgoing work in a secondary context, addressing in particular a debate regarding the realism of the Tractatus . |
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