Friday, September 21, 2007

4.221 It is obvious that by the analysis of propositions we must come to elementary propositions, which consist of names in immediate combination.

Here the question arises of how the combination of propositions comes to be.

Or, if an “elementary proposition” is inconceivable, then it is obvious that “the analysis of propositions” as conceived so far is impossible or inconceivable. The question that “asks itself here” can have no real answer. Complex propositions, the origin of whose complexity we might wonder about, would not be complex (made up of elementary propositions) at all. So it isn’t a real question, by 4.1274. Black (p. 208): “The questions [i.e. ‘How can names combine to form a sentence?’ and ‘How can objects combine to form a state of affairs?’] are nowhere answered and it is hard to see how any answers, in W.’s view, could be expected. Here perhaps we have instances of irredeemable nonsense.”

No comments: