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Symbols in Wittgenstein's Tractatus
Author(s) -
Johnston Colin
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
european journal of philosophy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.42
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 1468-0378
pISSN - 0966-8373
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0378.2007.00253.x
Subject(s) - nonsense , symbol (formal) , context (archaeology) , philosophy , sign (mathematics) , exegesis , section (typography) , point (geometry) , realism , epistemology , literature , linguistics , theology , history , art , computer science , mathematics , mathematical analysis , biochemistry , chemistry , archaeology , geometry , gene , operating system
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 .