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Picture Theory Of Language
The picture theory of language, also known as the picture theory of meaning, is a theory of linguistic reference and meaning articulated by Ludwig Wittgenstein in the ''Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus''. Wittgenstein suggested that a meaningful proposition pictured a state of affairs or atomic fact. Wittgenstein compared the concept of logical pictures () with spatial pictures. The picture theory of language is considered a correspondence theory of truth. Wittgenstein claims there is an unbridgeable gap between what can be expressed in language and what can only be expressed in non-verbal ways. The picture theory of meaning states that statements are meaningful if, and only if, they can be defined or pictured in the real world. Wittgenstein's later investigations laid out in the First Part of ''Philosophical Investigations'' refuted and replaced his earlier picture-based theory with a use theory of meaning. However, the second psychology-focused Part of ''Philosophical Investigat ...
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Reference
A reference is a relationship between objects in which one object designates, or acts as a means by which to connect to or link to, another object. The first object in this relation is said to ''refer to'' the second object. It is called a ''name'' for the second object. The next object, the one to which the first object refers, is called the '' referent'' of the first object. A name is usually a phrase or expression, or some other symbolic representation. Its referent may be anything – a material object, a person, an event, an activity, or an abstract concept. References can take on many forms, including: a thought, a sensory perception that is audible ( onomatopoeia), visual (text), olfactory, or tactile, emotional state, relationship with other, spacetime coordinates, symbolic or alpha-numeric, a physical object, or an energy projection. In some cases, methods are used that intentionally hide the reference from some observers, as in cryptography. References feature ...
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Meaning (philosophy Of Language)
In philosophymore specifically, in its sub-fields semantics, semiotics, philosophy of language, metaphysics, and metasemanticsmeaning "is a relationship between two sorts of things: signs and the kinds of things they intend, express, or signify". The types of meanings vary according to the types of the thing that is being represented. There are: *the things, which might have meaning; *things that are also signs of other things, and therefore are always meaningful (i.e., natural signs of the physical world and ideas within the mind); *things that are necessarily meaningful, such as words and nonverbal symbols. The major contemporary positions of meaning come under the following partial definitions of meaning: *psychological theories, involving notions of thought, intention, or understanding; *logical theories, involving notions such as intension, cognitive content, or sense, along with extension, reference, or denotation; *message, content, information, or communication; * trut ...
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Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. From 1929 to 1947, Wittgenstein taught at the University of Cambridge. Despite his position, only one book of his philosophy was published during his entire life: the 75-page ''Logisch-Philosophische Abhandlung'' (''Logical-Philosophical Treatise'', 1921), which appeared, together with an English translation, in 1922 under the Latin title ''Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus''. His only other published works were an article, "Some Remarks on Logical Form" (1929); a book review; and a children's dictionary. #Works, His voluminous manuscripts were edited and published posthumously. The first and best-known of this posthumous series is the 1953 book ''Philosophical Investigations''. A 1999 survey among American university and college teachers ranked the ''Investigations ...
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Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
The ''Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus'' (widely abbreviated and Citation, cited as TLP) is the only book-length philosophical work by the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein that was published during his lifetime. The project had a broad goal: to identify the relationship between language and reality, and to define the limits of science. Wittgenstein wrote the notes for the ''Tractatus'' while he was a soldier during World War I and completed it during a military leave in the summer of 1918. It was originally published in German in 1921 as ''Logisch-Philosophische Abhandlung'' (Logical-Philosophical Treatise). In 1922 it was published together with an English translation and a Latin title, which was suggested by G. E. Moore as homage to Baruch Spinoza's ''Tractatus Theologico-Politicus'' (1670). The ''Tractatus'' is written in an austere and succinct literary style, containing almost no arguments as such, but consists of 525 declarative statements altogether, which are hierarc ...
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State Of Affairs (philosophy)
In philosophy, a state of affairs (), also known as a situation, is a way the actual world must be in order to make some given ''proposition'' about the actual world true; in other words, a state of affairs is a ''truth-maker'', whereas a proposition is a ''truth-bearer''. Whereas states of affairs either ''obtain'' or ''fail-to-obtain'', propositions are either ''true'' or ''false''. Some philosophers understand the term "states of affairs" in a more restricted sense as a synonym for "fact". In this sense, there are no states of affairs that do not obtain. The early Ludwig Wittgenstein and David Malet Armstrong are well known for their defence of a factualism, a position according to which the world is a world of facts and not a world of things. Overview States of affairs are complex entities: they are built up from or constituted by other entities. Atomic states of affairs are constituted by one particular and one property exemplified by this particular. For example, the state ...
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Atomic Fact
In logic and analytic philosophy, an atomic sentence is a type of declarative sentence which is either true or false (may also be referred to as a proposition, statement or truthbearer) and which cannot be broken down into other simpler sentences. For example, "The dog ran" is atomic whereas "The dog ran and the cat hid" is molecular in natural language. From a logical analysis point of view, the truth of a sentence is determined by only two things: * the logical form of the sentence. * the truth of its underlying atomic sentences. That is to say, for example, that the truth of the sentence "John is Greek and John is happy" is a function of the meaning of " and", and the truth values of the atomic sentences "John is Greek" and "John is happy". However, the truth of an atomic sentence is not a matter that is within the scope of logic itself, but rather whatever art or science the content of the atomic sentence happens to be talking about. Logic has developed artificial languages ...
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Correspondence Theory Of Truth
In metaphysics and philosophy of language, the correspondence theory of truth states that the truth or falsity of a statement is determined only by how it relates to the world and whether it accurately describes (i.e., corresponds with) that world.Hanna and Harrison (2004), ch. 1, p. 21, quotation: "The assessment of truth and falsity is made possible by the existence of semantically mediated correlations between the members of some class of linguistic entities possessing assertoric force (in some versions of the Correspondence Theory propositions, in others sentences, or bodies of sentences), and the members of some class of extralinguistic entities: “states of affairs,” or “facts,” or bodies of truth-conditions, or of assertion-warranting circumstances." Correspondence theories claim that true beliefs and true statements correspond to the actual state of affairs. This type of theory attempts to posit a relationship between thoughts or statements on one hand, and thing ...
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Philosophical Investigations
''Philosophical Investigations'' () is a work by the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, published posthumously in 1953. ''Philosophical Investigations'' is divided into two parts, consisting of what Wittgenstein calls, in the preface, ''Bemerkungen'', translated by G. E. M. Anscombe as "remarks". A survey among American university and college teachers ranked the ''Investigations'' as the most important book of 20th-century philosophy. Relation to Wittgenstein's body of work In its preface, Wittgenstein says that ''Philosophical Investigations'' can "be seen in the right light only by contrast with and against the background of my older way of thinking". Wittgenstein biographer Ray Monk writes, "This is partly because of the great differences between his early and late work, but also because of the equally important continuities between the two". The early work in which Wittgenstein expressed his "older way of thinking" is the only book Wittgenstein published in his lifeti ...
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Use Theory Of Meaning
''Philosophical Investigations'' () is a work by the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, published posthumously in 1953. ''Philosophical Investigations'' is divided into two parts, consisting of what Wittgenstein calls, in the preface, ''Bemerkungen'', translated by G. E. M. Anscombe as "remarks". A survey among American university and college teachers ranked the ''Investigations'' as the most important book of 20th-century philosophy. Relation to Wittgenstein's body of work In its preface, Wittgenstein says that ''Philosophical Investigations'' can "be seen in the right light only by contrast with and against the background of my older way of thinking". Wittgenstein biographer Ray Monk writes, "This is partly because of the great differences between his early and late work, but also because of the equally important continuities between the two". The early work in which Wittgenstein expressed his "older way of thinking" is the only book Wittgenstein published in his lifetime, ...
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Early Wittgenstein
Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. From 1929 to 1947, Wittgenstein taught at the University of Cambridge. Despite his position, only one book of his philosophy was published during his entire life: the 75-page ''Logisch-Philosophische Abhandlung'' (''Logical-Philosophical Treatise'', 1921), which appeared, together with an English translation, in 1922 under the Latin title ''Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus''. His only other published works were an article, " Some Remarks on Logical Form" (1929); a book review; and a children's dictionary. His voluminous manuscripts were edited and published posthumously. The first and best-known of this posthumous series is the 1953 book ''Philosophical Investigations''. A 1999 survey among American university and college teachers ranked the ''Investigations'' as ...
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Truth-conditional Semantics
Truth-conditional semantics is an approach to semantics of natural language that sees meaning (or at least the meaning of assertions) as being the same as, or reducible to, their truth conditions. This approach to semantics is principally associated with Donald Davidson, and attempts to carry out for the semantics of natural language what Tarski's semantic theory of truth achieves for the semantics of logic. Truth-conditional theories of semantics attempt to define the meaning of a given proposition by explaining when the sentence is true. So, for example, because 'snow is white' is true if and only if snow is white, the meaning of 'snow is white' is snow is white. History The first truth-conditional semantics was developed by Donald Davidson in '' Truth and Meaning'' (1967). It applied Tarski's semantic theory of truth to a problem it was not intended to solve, that of giving the meaning of a sentence. Criticism Refutation from necessary truths Scott Soames has harshly ...
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Theories Of Language
A theory is a systematic and rational form of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the conclusions derived from such thinking. It involves contemplative and logical reasoning, often supported by processes such as observation, experimentation, and research. Theories can be scientific, falling within the realm of empirical and testable knowledge, or they may belong to non-scientific disciplines, such as philosophy, art, or sociology. In some cases, theories may exist independently of any formal discipline. In modern science, the term "theory" refers to scientific theories, a well-confirmed type of explanation of nature, made in a way consistent with the scientific method, and fulfilling the criteria required by modern science. Such theories are described in such a way that scientific tests should be able to provide empirical support for it, or empirical contradiction (" falsify") of it. Scientific theories are the most reliable, rigorous, and comprehensive form of scientific k ...
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