Número 33 - 2007
Articles

Language as picture in Plato’s Cratylus and Wittgenstein’s Tractatus

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  • Shlomy Mualem
Shlomy Mualem
Bar Ilan University
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21555/top.v33i1.158

Published 2013-11-28

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How to Cite

Mualem, S. (2013). Language as picture in Plato’s Cratylus and Wittgenstein’s Tractatus. Tópicos, Revista De Filosofía, 33(1), 9–35. https://doi.org/10.21555/top.v33i1.158
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Abstract

The aim of the following article is to compare Plato and Wittgenstein’s doctrines of language as a picture, focusing on the Cratylus and the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. Despite the fact that the Cratylus deals with the correctness of names while the Tractatus attends to the nature and structure of propositions, the study demonstrates, focusing on Cratylus 421c-427e and Tractatus 4.01-4.12, that the language-as-picture doctrines in these texts closely resemble each other in terms of their basic properties and structures. The comparison comprises four aspects: (1) the structure of elements and their form; (2) the correspondence between language and reality; (3) the possibility of falsehood; and (4) the method of verification.

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