Inspired by Bertrand Russell's theory of descriptions, Wittgenstein held that the surface grammar of a proposition may be highly misleading as to the underlying structure of a proposition. Wittgenstein explains how elementary propositions can have sense by drawing an analogy with a picture or model, such as the model of the scene of an accident. One key claim of the picture theory of meaning is that elementary propositions are capable of being true and capable of being false independently of one (...) another. If it is a matter of debate whether or not Wittgenstein adhered to a deflationary account of truth at the time of the Tractatus, it is clear that he later espoused deflationary views about truth. One problem for deflationary accounts of truth along the lines of Prior has been the treatment of propositions in which we seem to be faced with an ascription of truth to a named proposition. (shrink)