Picture theory of language

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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.^[1]^[2] Wittgenstein compared the concept of logical pictures (German: Bilder) with spatial pictures.^[3] The picture theory of language is considered a correspondence theory of truth.^[4]

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 Investigations employs the concept as a metaphor for human psychology.^[5]

References

^ Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889—1951) (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
^ Keyt, D. (1964). "Wittgenstein's Picture Theory of Language". The Philosophical Review. 73 (4): 493. doi:10.2307/2183303. JSTOR 2183303.
^ V. Hope (April 1969). "The Picture Theory of Meaning in the Tractatus as a Development of Moore's and Russell's Theories of Judgment". Philosophy. 44 (168): 140–148. doi:10.1017/s0031819100024335. JSTOR 3750136.
^ Edna Daitz (April 1953). "The Picture Theory of Meaning". Mind. 62 (246): 184–201. doi:10.1093/mind/lxii.246.184. JSTOR 2251383.
^ Wittgenstein, Ludwig (1968). Philosophical Investigations. Translated by G.E.M. Anscombe (Third ed.). New York: Basil Blackwell & Mott, Ltd. p. 178. The human body is the best picture of the human soul.

v t e Ludwig Wittgenstein
Family	Margaret Stonborough-Wittgenstein Karl Wittgenstein Paul Wittgenstein Works associated with Paul Wittgenstein
Early work	Picture theory of language Truth tables Wittgenstein's ladder
Later work	Language-game Private language argument Family resemblance Rule-following Form of life Wittgenstein's philosophy of mathematics Therapeutic approach
Publications	Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus "Some Remarks on Logical Form" Blue and Brown Books Philosophical Remarks Philosophical Investigations On Certainty Culture and Value Remarks on Frazer's Golden Bough Remarks on the Foundations of Mathematics Zettel Remarks on Colour Lectures and Conversations on Aesthetics, Psychology, and Religious Belief
Movements	Analytic philosophy Linguistic turn Ideal language philosophy Logical atomism Logical positivism Ordinary language philosophy Wittgensteinian fideism Quietism
Friends	G. E. M. Anscombe R. B. Braithwaite Rudolf Carnap Paul Engelmann John Maynard Keynes Peter Geach Norman Malcolm G. E. Moore David Pinsent Frank P. Ramsey Rush Rhees Bertrand Russell Moritz Schlick Francis Skinner Piero Sraffa Vienna Circle Friedrich Waismann Peter Winch G. H. von Wright
Biographers	David Edmonds Ray Monk William Warren Bartley
Secondary sources	A. J. Ayer Gordon Baker James F. Conant Alice Crary Cora Diamond Terry Eagleton Peter Hacker Dale Jacquette Saul Kripke Anthony Kenny Warren Goldfarb Stanley Cavell D. Z. Phillips Colin McGinn Jaakko Hintikka Oswald Hanfling A. C. Grayling Rupert Read Barry Stroud Stephen Toulmin Crispin Wright Fergus Kerr Wittgenstein's Poker
Related	Cambridge Apostles Cambridge University Moral Sciences Club Haidbauer incident Haus Wittgenstein Fritz Mauthner
Film	Wittgenstein (film) Wittgenstein Tractatus

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