_ Source: _Page Count 21 The “Context Principle”, as the author understands it in this paper, is the claim that sub-sentential linguistic expressions have meaning only in the context of complete meaningful sentences. The author reconstructs the version of the Context Principle that Wittgenstein holds in the _Tractatus_, shows that it has intuitive plausibility and can be defended against alleged counterexamples, and develops an argument for its truth that can be found in the _Tractatus_. In short, the author argues that (...) the “fit” between the meanings of sentences and the meanings of the expressions they contain can only be adequately explained if one acknowledges that for a sub-sentential expression to have meaning _is_ for it to make a contribution to the meaning of a sentence. (shrink)

RESUMO O objetivo deste artigo é mostrar que as interpretações "tradicional" e "resoluta" não livraram o "Tractatus" da aparente autoderrota paradoxal. Argumento que essas leituras apresentam apenas uma nova roupagem ao paradoxo. A leitura "tradicional" de Hacker acaba atribuindo uma conspiração metafísica ao "Tractatus", o que é incompatível com os objetivos do livro. A leitura "resoluta" de Diamond e Conant atribui a Wittgenstein uma conspiração autoral, o que contradiz suas opiniões sobre autoria e método. Com base nas dificuldades encontradas em (...) ambos os lados do debate atual, concluo este artigo propondo vários requisitos que a correta interpretação do "Tractatus" deve preencher. (shrink)

I aim to present a solution to the apparent paradox of the Tractatus by means of a minimalist reading grounded in the idea that the correct logical symbolism alone “finally solves” in essentials the philosophical problems. I argue that although the sentences of the Tractatus are nonsensical, rules presented in its symbolism are not. The symbolism itself expresses only a priori rules of logic through schematic variables that do not say anything. I argue that this reading correctly expresses the ladder (...) structure of the book, and that it can account for Wittgenstein's critique of the Tractatus in Some Remarks on Logical Form. (shrink)

There is only one occurrence of the word ‘progress’ in the Philosophical Investigations. It is located in the sentence that serves as the book’s epigraph. The book, however, does not explicit prese...

The austere view of nonsense says that the source of nonsense is not a violation of the rules of logical syntax, but nonsense is always due to a lack of meaning in one of the components of a sentence. In other words, the necessary and sufficient condition for nonsensicality is that no meaning has been assigned to a constituent in a sentence. The austere conception is the key ingredient of the resolute reading of Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus that presents a therapeutical interpretation (...) of the work, and rejects a possibility of conveying some ineffable truths by means of nonsensical sentences. In this paper, I defend the austere view against the most important objections. Firstly, I discuss textual sources for ascribing to Wittgenstein the austere view that have not been sufficiently thoroughly discussed yet. Next, I indicate that the apparent occurrence of words out of the context of a sentence on lists of verbs and in definitions is not in conflict with the version of the context principle recommended by austere theorists, since this argument does not sufficiently take into account the distinction between sign and symbol. Furthermore, I argue that the austere conception and the principle of compositionality are jointly tenable, for the former view does not exclude the existence of syntactic and semantic rules, but only shows that they are recognizable conditionally. Finally, I indicate that the austere view of nonsense should be seen as a viable option by a contemporary theorist of nonsense, for it helps us to avoid making controversial assumptions about the nature of meaning and content. (shrink)

Dialetheism is the view that some contradictions are true. Resorting to either metaphysical dialetheism or semantic dialetheism may seem like an appropriate resolve to certain theological contradictions. At least for those who concede to theological contradictions, and take dialetheism seriously. However, I demonstrate that neither of these types of dialetheism would serve to be amenable in resolving an Islamic theological contradiction. This is a theological contradiction that I refer to as ‘the paradox of an unknowable and ineffable God’. As a (...) result of this, I propose an alternative type of dialetheism which aims to resolve the paradox of an unknowable and ineffable God. I call this type of dialetheism, ‘mystical dialetheism’. (shrink)

El Tractatus de Wittgenstein es una obra desconcertante para quien la ha leído. Una vez recorridas sus complejas tesis filosóficas, sus últimos pasajes declaran que sus proposiciones se esclarecen cuando son reconocidas como sinsentidos. El libro debe ser leída como una escalera para ser arrojada una vez que hemos subido por ella. Al respecto, hay por lo menos dos posturas al respecto en la literatura: mientras la tesis de inefabilidad sostiene que el propósito del Tractatus es comunicar algún tipo de (...) verdad inexpresable a través del reconocimiento de su sinsentido, de acuerdo con la tesis terapéutica su propósito es exclusivamente identificar el sinsentido de la obra para determinar lo que resulta expresable. En este artículo defiendo una tercera opción según la cual la metáfora de la escalera ―compuesta de tres peldaños sobre la naturaleza del mundo, el lenguaje, y el sujeto― se debe entender desde su significado paradójico. El Tractatus no es una obra que intente comunicar un conocimiento teórico y, sin embargo, arrojar la obra al sinsentido lleva al lector al descubrimiento práctico de una posición ética para ‘ver correctamente el mundo’ a partir de la paradoja de un límite. Palabras clave : Sinsentido; Límite; Sujeto; Lenguaje; Escalera.: Wittgenstein’s Tractatus is a baffling work for someone who has read it. Once we have gone throughout its complex philosophical thesis, its last two passages claim that its propositions are cleared up by being recognized as senseless. The book must be read as ladder to be thrown away once we have climbed it up. In this respect, there are at least two accounts in the literature: while the ineffability view contends that the purpose of the Tractatus is to communicate some kind of inexpressible truths throughout the recognition of its senselessness, according to the therapeutic view its purpose is exclusively to identify the senseless of the work to determine what really is sayable. This article argues a third view in which the metaphor of the ladder ―having three rungs about the nature of the world, language, and the Self― must be understood from its paradoxical meaning. The Tractatus is not a work trying to communicate a theoretical knowledge and, therefore, throwing it away to the senseless takes the reader to the practical discovery of an ethical position to ‘see the world rightly’ from the paradox of a limit. Key Words : Senseless; Limit; Subject; Language; Ladder. (shrink)