Propositions, The Tractatus, And “The Single Great Problem Of Philosophy”

Abstract

Wittgenstein’s project in the Tractatus was to replace Frege-Russell propositions with a new conception capturing the essence of representational thought and language. This, he believed, was philosophy’s only real task. I argue that his account of atomic propositions was an incomplete realization of valuable insights, which, had they been slightly revised, could have been extended to all tractarian propositions. Had Wittgenstein followed this path, he would have made discoveries in the study of language and mind that are only beginning to emerge today. However, doing so would have meant stripping the Tractatus of its pretensions of fundamentally remaking philosophy.