quot; ("not $pquot;) and $p \lor q$ ("$p$ or $qquot;). (Herewith is indicated the way in which a special possible notation can give us general information.) ***** 3.3442 The sign of the complex is not arbitrarily resolved in the analysis, in such a way that its resolution would be different in every propositional structure. ** 3.4 The proposition determines a place in logical space: the existence of this logical place is guaranteed by the existence of the constituent parts alone, by the existence of the significant proposition. *** 3.41 The propositional sign and the logical co-ordinates: that is the logical place. **** 3.411 The geometrical and the logical place agree in that each is the possibility of an existence. *** 3.42 Although a proposition may only determine one place in logical space, the whole logical space must already be given by it. (Otherwise denial, the logical sum, the logical product, etc., would always introduce new elements---in co-ordination.) (The logical scaffolding round the picture determines the logical space. The proposition reaches through the whole logical space.) ** 3.5 The applied, thought, propositional sign, is the thought. - 4 The thought is the significant proposition. ** 4.0 (empty) *** 4.00 (empty) **** 4.001 The totality of propositions is the language. **** 4.002 Man possesses the capacity of constructing languages, in which every sense can be expressed, without having an idea how and what each word means---just as one speaks without knowing how the single sounds are produced. Colloquial language is a part of the human organism and is not less complicated than it. From it it is humanly impossible to gather immediately the logic of language. Language disguises the thought; so that from the external form of the clothes one cannot infer the form of the thought they clothe, because the external form of the clothes is constructed with quite another object than to let the form of the body be recognized. The silent adjustments to understand colloquial language are enormously complicated. **** 4.003 Most propositions and questions, that have been written about philosophical matters, are not false, but senseless. We cannot, therefore, answer questions of this kind at all, but only state their senselessness. Most questions and propositions of the philosophers result from the fact that we do not understand the logic of our language. (They are of the same kind as the question whether the Good is more or less identical than the Beautiful.) And so it is not to be wondered at that the deepest problems are really no problems. ***** 4.0031 All philosophy is "Critique of language" (but not at all in Mauthner's sense). Russell's merit is to have shown that the apparent logical form of the proposition need not be its real form. *** 4.01 The proposition is a picture of reality. The proposition is a model of the reality as we think it is. **** 4.011 At the first glance the proposition---say as it stands printed on paper---does not seem to be a picture of the reality of which it treats. But nor does the musical score appear at first sight to be a picture of a musical piece; nor does our phonetic spelling (letters) seem to be a picture of our spoken language. And yet these symbolisms prove to be pictures---even in the ordinary sense of the word---of what they represent. **** 4.012 It is obvious that we perceive a proposition of the form aRb as a picture. Here the sign is obviously a likeness of the signified. **** 4.013 And if we penetrate to the essence of this pictorial nature we see that this is not disturbed by apparent irregularities (like the use of $\sharp$ and $\flat$ in the score). For these irregularities also picture what they are to express; only in another way. **** 4.014 The gramophone record, the musical thought, the score, the waves of sound, all stand to one another in that pictorial internal relation, which holds between language and the world. To all of them the logical structure is common. (Like the two youths, their two horses and their lilies in the story. They are all in a certain sense one.) ***** 4.0141 In the fact that there is a general rule by which the musician is able to read the symphony out of the score, and that there is a rule by which one could reconstruct the symphony from the line on a gramophone record and from this again---by means of the first rule---construct the score, herein lies the internal similarity between these things which at first sight seem to be entirely different. And the rule is the law of projection which projects the symphony into the language of the musical score. It is the rule of translation of this language into the language of the gramophone record. **** 4.015 The possibility of all similes, of all the images of our language, rests on the logic of representation. **** 4.016 In order to understand the essence of the proposition, consider hieroglyphic writing, which pictures the facts it describes. And from it came the alphabet without the essence of the representation being lost. *** 4.02 This we see from the fact that we understand the sense of the propositional sign, without having had it explained to us. **** 4.021 The proposition is a picture of reality, for I know the state of affairs presented by it, if I understand the proposition. And I understand the proposition, without its sense having been explained to me. **** 4.022 The proposition shows its sense. The proposition shows how things stand, if it is true. And it says, that they do so stand. **** 4.023 The proposition determines reality to this extent, that one only needs to say "Yes" or "No" to it to make it agree with reality. Reality must therefore be completely described by the proposition. A proposition is the description of a fact. As the description of an object describes it by its external properties so propositions describe reality by its internal properties. The proposition constructs a world with the help of a logical scaffolding, and therefore one can actually see in the proposition all the logical features possessed by reality if it is true. One can draw conclusions from a false proposition. **** 4.024 To understand a proposition means to know what is the case, if it is true. (One can therefore understand it without knowing whether it is true or not.) One understands it if one understands it constituent parts. **** 4.025 The translation of one language into another is not a process of translating each proposition of the one into a proposition of the other, but only the constituent parts of propositions are translated. (And the dictionary does not only translate substantives but also adverbs and conjunctions, etc., and it treats them all alike.) **** 4.026 The meanings of the simple signs (the words) must be explained to us, if we are to understand them. By means of propositions we explain ourselves. **** 4.027 It is essential to propositions, that they can communicate a new sense to us. *** 4.03 A proposition must communicate a new sense with old words. The proposition communicates to us a state of affairs, therefore it must be essentially connected with the state of affairs. And the connexion is, in fact, that it is its logical picture. The proposition only asserts something, in so far as it is a picture. **** 4.031 In the proposition a state of affairs is, as it were, put together for the sake of experiment. One can say, instead of, This proposition has such and such a sense, This proposition represents such and such a state of affairs. ***** 4.0311 One name stands for one thing, and another for another thing, and they are connected together. And so the whole, like a living picture, presents the atomic fact. ***** 4.0312 The possibility of propositions is based upon the principle of the representation of objects by signs. My fundamental thought is that the "logical constants" do not represent. That the logic of the facts cannot be represented. **** 4.032 The proposition is a picture of its state of affairs, only in so far as it is logically articulated. (Even the proposition "ambulo" is composite, for its stem gives a different sense with another termination, or its termination with another stem.) *** 4.04 In the proposition there must be exactly as many thing distinguishable as there are in the state of affairs, which it represents. They must both possess the same logical (mathematical) multiplicity (cf. Hertz's Mechanics, on Dynamic Models). **** 4.041 This mathematical multiplicity naturally cannot in its turn be represented. One cannot get outside it in the representation. ***** 4.0411 If we tried, for example, to express what is expressed by "$(x).fxquot; by putting an index before $fx$, like: "$Gen.fxquot;, it would not do, we should not know what was generalized. If we tried to show it by an index $g$, like: "$f(xg)quot; it would not do---we should not know the scope of the generalization. If we were to try it by introducing a mark in the argument places, like "$(G, G).F(G, G)quot;, it would not do---we could not determine the identity of the variables, etc. All these ways of symbolizing are inadequate because they have not the necessary mathematical multiplicity. ***** 4.0412 For the same reason the idealist explanation of the seeing of spatial relations through "spatial spectacles" does not do, because it cannot explain the multiplicity of these relations. *** 4.05 Reality is compared with the proposition. *** 4.06 Propositions can be true or false only by being pictures of the reality. **** 4.061 If one does not observe that propositions have a sense independent of the facts, one can easily believe that true and false are two relations between signs and things signified with equal rights. One could, then, for example, say that "$pquot; signifies in the true way what "$\neg pquot; signifies in the false way, etc. **** 4.062 Can we not make ourselves understood by means of false propositions as hitherto with true ones, so long as we know that they are meant to be false? No! For a proposition is true, if what we assert by means of it is the case; and if by "$pquot; we mean $\neg p$, and what we mean is the case, then "$pquot; in the new conception is true and not false. ***** 4.0621 That, however, the signs "$pquot; and "$\neg pquot; can say the same thing is important, for it shows that the sign "$\negquot; corresponds to nothing in reality. That negation occurs in a proposition, is no characteristic of its sense ($\neg\neg p = p$). The propositions "$pquot; and "$\neg pquot; have opposite senses, but to them corresponds one and the same reality. **** 4.063 An illustration to explain the concept of truth. A black spot on white paper; the form of the spot can be described by saying of each point of the plane whether it is white or black. To the fact that a point is black corresponds a positive fact; to the fact that a point is white (not black), a negative fact. If I indicate a point of the plane (a truth-value in Frege's terminology), this corresponds to the assumption proposed for judgment, etc. etc. But to be able to say that a point is black or white, I must first know under what conditions a point is called white or black; in order to be able to say "p" is true (or false) I must have determined under what conditions I call "p" true, and thereby I determine the sense of the proposition. The point at which the simile breaks down is this: we can indicate a point on the paper, without knowing what white and black are; but to a proposition without a sense corresponds nothing at all, for it signifies no thing (truth-value) whose properties are called "false" or "true"; the verb of the proposition is not "is true" or "is false"---as Frege thought---but that which "is true" must already contain the verb. **** 4.064 Every proposition must already have a sense; assertion cannot give it a sense, for what it asserts is the sense itself. And the same holds of denial, etc. ***** 4.0641 One could say, the denial is already related to the logical place determined by the proposition that is denied. The denying proposition determines a logical place other than does the proposition denied. The denying proposition determines a logical place, with the help of the logical place of the proposition denied, by saying that it lies outside the latter place. That one can deny again the denied proposition, shows that what is denied is already a proposition and not merely the preliminary to a proposition. ** 4.1 A proposition presents the existence and non-existence of atomic facts. *** 4.11 The totality of true propositions is the total natural science (or the totality of the natural sciences). **** 4.111 Philosophy is not one of the natural sciences. (The word "philosophy" must mean something which stands above or below, but not beside the natural sciences.) **** 4.112 The object of philosophy is the logical clarification of thoughts. Philosophy is not a theory but an activity. A philosophical work consists essentially of elucidations. The result of philosophy is not a number of "philosophical propositions", but to make propositions clear. Philosophy should make clear and delimit sharply the thoughts which otherwise are, as it were, opaque and blurred. ***** 4.1121 Psychology is no nearer related to philosophy, than is any other natural science. The theory of knowledge is the philosophy of psychology. Does not my study of sign-language correspond to the study of thought processes which philosophers held to be so essential to the philosophy of logic? Only they got entangled for the most part in unessential psychological investigations, and there is an analogous danger for my method. ***** 4.1122 The Darwinian theory has no more to do with philosophy than has any other hypothesis of natural science. **** 4.113 Philosophy limits the disputable sphere of natural science. **** 4.114 It should limit the thinkable and thereby the unthinkable. It should limit the unthinkable from within through the thinkable. **** 4.115 It will mean the unspeakable by clearly displaying the speakable. **** 4.116 Everything that can be thought at all can be thought clearly. Everything that can be said can be said clearly. *** 4.12 Propositions can represent the whole reality, but they cannot represent what they must have in common with reality in order to be able to represent it---the logical form. To be able to represent the logical form, we should have to be able to put ourselves with the propositions outside logic, that is outside the world. **** 4.121 Propositions cannot represent the logical form: this mirrors itself in the propositions. That which mirrors itself in language, language cannot represent. That which expresses itself in language, we cannot express by language. The propositions show the logical form of reality. They exhibit it. ***** 4.1211 Thus a proposition "fa" shows that in its sense the object a occurs, two propositions "fa" and "ga" that they are both about the same object. If two propositions contradict one another, this is shown by their structure; similarly if one follows from another, etc. ***** 4.1212 What can be shown cannot be said. ***** 4.1213 Now we understand our feeling that we are in possession of the right logical conception, if only all is right in our symbolism. **** 4.122 We can speak in a certain sense of formal properties of objects and atomic facts, or of properties of the structure of facts, and in the same sense of formal relations and relations of structures. (Instead of property of the structure I also say "internal property"; instead of relation of structures "internal relation". I introduce these expressions in order to show the reason for the confusion, very widespread among philosophers, between internal relations and proper (external) relations.) The holding of such internal properties and relations cannot, however, be asserted by propositions, but it shows itself in the propositions, which present the facts and treat of the objects in question. ***** 4.1221 An internal property of a fact we also call a feature of this fact. (In the sense in which we speak of facial features.) **** 4.123 A property is internal if it is unthinkable that its object does not possess it. (This bright blue colour and that stand in the internal relation of bright and darker eo ipso. It is unthinkable that these two objects should not stand in this relation.) (Here to the shifting use of the words "property" and "relation" there corresponds the shifting use of the word "object".) **** 4.124 The existence of an internal property of a possible state of affairs is not expressed by a proposition, but it expresses itself in the proposition which presents that state of affairs, by an internal property of this proposition. It would be as senseless to ascribe a formal property to a proposition as to deny it the formal property. ***** 4.1241 One cannot distinguish forms from one another by saying that one has this property, the other that: for this assumes that there is a sense in asserting either property of either form. **** 4.125 The existence of an internal relation between possible states of affairs expresses itself in language by an internal relation between the propositions presenting them. ***** 4.1251 Now this settles the disputed question "whether all relations are internal or external". ***** 4.1252 Series which are ordered by internal relations I call formal series. The series of numbers is ordered not by an external, but by an internal relation. Similarly the series of propositions $aRb$, $(\exists x):aRx.xRb$, $(\exists x,y):aRx.xRy.yRb$, etc. (If $b$ stands in one of these relations to $a$, I call $b$ a successor of $a$.) **** 4.126 In the sense in which we speak of formal properties we can now speak also of formal concepts. (I introduce this expression in order to make clear the confusion of formal concepts with proper concepts which runs through the whole of the old logic.) That anything falls under a formal concept as an object belonging to it, cannot be expressed by a proposition. But it is shown in the symbol for the object itself. (The name shows that it signifies an object, the numerical sign that it signifies a number, etc.) Formal concepts, cannot, like proper concepts, be presented by a function. For their characteristics, the formal properties, are not expressed by the functions. The expression of a formal property is a feature of certain symbols. The sign that signifies the characteristics of a formal concept is, therefore, a characteristic feature of all symbols, whose meanings fall under the concept. The expression of the formal concept is therefore a propositional variable in which only this characteristic feature is constant. **** 4.127 The propositional variable signifies the formal concept, and its values signify the objects which fall under this concept. ***** 4.1271 Every variable is the sign of a formal concept. For every variable presents a constant form, which all its values possess, and which can be conceived as a formal property of these values. ***** 4.1272 So the variable name "x" is the proper sign of the pseudo-concept object. Wherever the word "object" ("thing", "entity", etc.) is rightly used, it is expressed in logical symbolism by the variable name. For example in the proposition "there are two objects which …", by "$(\exists x,y)$…". Wherever it is used otherwise, i.e. as a proper concept word, there arise senseless pseudo-propositions. So one cannot, e.g. say "There are objects" as one says "There are books". Nor "There are 100 objects" or "There are $\aleph_0$ objects". And it is senseless to speak of the number of all objects. The same holds of the words "Complex", "Fact", "Function", "Number", etc. They all signify formal concepts and are presented in logical symbolism by variables, not by functions or classes (as Frege and Russell thought). Expressions like "1 is a number", "there is only one number nought", and all like them are senseless. (It is as senseless to say, "there is only one 1" as it would be to say: 2+2 is at 3 o'clock equal to 4.) ****** 4.12721 The formal concept is already given with an object, which falls under it. One cannot, therefore, introduce both, the objects which fall under a formal concept and the formal concept itself, as primitive ideas. One cannot, therefore, e.g. introduce (as Russell does) the concept of function and also special functions as primitive ideas; or the concept of number and definite numbers. ***** 4.1273 If we want to express in logical symbolism the general proposition "b is a successor of a" we need for this an expression for the general term of the formal series: $aRb$, $(\exists x):aRx.xRb$, $(\exists x,y):aRx.xRy.yRb$, …. The general term of a formal series can only be expressed by a variable, for the concept symbolized by "term of this formal series" is a formal concept. (This Frege and Russell overlooked; the way in which they express general propositions like the above is, therefore, false; it contains a vicious circle.) We can determine the general term of the formal series by giving its first term and the general form of the operation, which generates the following term out of the preceding proposition. ***** 4.1274 The question about the existence of a formal concept is senseless. For no proposition can answer such a question. (For example, one cannot ask: "Are there unanalysable subject-predicate propositions?") **** 4.128 The logical forms are anumerical. Therefore there are in logic no pre-eminent numbers, and therefore there is no philosophical monism or dualism, etc. ** 4.2 The sense of a proposition is its agreement and disagreement with the possibilities of the existence and non-existence of the atomic facts. *** 4.21 The simplest proposition, the elementary proposition, asserts the existence of an atomic fact. **** 4.211 It is a sign of an elementary proposition, that no elementary proposition can contradict it. *** 4.22 The elementary proposition consists of names. It is a connexion, a concatenation, of names. **** 4.221 It is obvious that in the analysis of propositions we must come to elementary propositions, which consist of names in immediate combination. The question arises here, how the propositional connexion comes to be. ***** 4.2211 Even if the world is infinitely complex, so that every fact consists of an infinite number of atomic facts and every atomic fact is composed of an infinite number of objects, even then there must be objects and atomic facts. *** 4.23 The name occurs in the proposition only in the context of the elementary proposition. *** 4.24 The names are the simple symbols, I indicate them by single letters (x, y, z). The elementary proposition I write as function of the names, in the form $fx$, $\phi(x,y)$, etc. Or I indicate it by the letters $p$, $q$, $r$. **** 4.241 If I use two signs with one and the same meaning, I express this by putting between them the sign "=". "a=b" means then, that the sign "a" is replaceable by the sign "b". (If I introduce by an equation a new sign "b", by determining that it shall replace a previously known sign "a", I write the equation---definition---(like Russell) in the form "a=b Def.". A definition is a symbolic rule.) **** 4.242 Expressions of the form "a=b" are therefore only expedients in presentation: They assert nothing about the meaning of the signs "a" and "b". **** 4.243 Can we understand two names without knowing whether they signify the same thing or two different things? Can we understand a proposition in which two names occur, without knowing if they mean the same or different things? If I know the meaning of an English and a synonymous German word, it is impossible for me not to know that they are synonymous, it is impossible for me not to be able to translate them into one another. Expressions like "a=a", or expressions deduced from these are neither elementary propositions nor otherwise significant signs. (This will be shown later.) *** 4.25 If the elementary proposition is true, the atomic fact exists; if it is false the atomic fact does not exist. *** 4.26 The specification of all true elementary propositions describes the world completely. The world is completely described by the specification of all elementary propositions plus the specification, which of them are true and which false. *** 4.27 With regard to the existence of $n$ atomic facts there are $K_n = $\sum_{v=0}^n \binom{n}{v}$ possibilities. It is possible for all combinations of atomic facts to exist, and the others not to exist. *** 4.28 To these combinations correspond the same number of possibilities of the truth---and falsehood---of n elementary propositions. ** 4.3 The truth-possibilities of the elementary propositions mean the possibilities of the existence and non-existence of the atomic facts. *** 4.31 The truth-possibilities can be presented by schemata of the following kind ("T" means "true", "F" "false". The rows of T's and F's under the row of the elementary propositions mean their truth-possibilities in an easily intelligible symbolism). | p | q | r | |---+---+---| | T | T | T | | F | T | T | | T | F | T | | T | T | F | | F | F | T | | F | T | F | | T | F | F | | F | F | F | | p | q | |---+---| | T | T | | F | T | | T | F | | F | F | | p | |---| | T | | F | ** 4.4 A proposition is the expression of agreement and disagreement with the truth-possibilities of the elementary propositions. *** 4.41 The truth-possibilities of the elementary propositions are the conditions of the truth and falsehood of the propositions. **** 4.411 It seems probable even at first sight that the introduction of the elementary propositions is fundamental for the comprehension of the other kinds of propositions. Indeed the comprehension of the general propositions depends palpably on that of the elementary propositions. *** 4.42 With regard to the agreement and disagreement of a proposition with the truth-possibilities of n elementary propositions there are $\sum_{\kappa=0}^{K_n} \binom{K_n}{\kappa} = L_n$ possibilities. *** 4.43 Agreement with the truth-possibilities can be expressed by co-ordinating with them in the schema the mark "T" (true). Absence of this mark means disagreement. **** 4.431 The expression of the agreement and disagreement with the truth-possibilities of the elementary propositions expresses the truth-conditions of the proposition. The proposition is the expression of its truth-conditions. (Frege has therefore quite rightly put them at the beginning, as explaining the signs of his logical symbolism. Only Frege's explanation of the truth-concept is false: if "the true" and "the false" were real objects and the arguments in $\neg p$, etc., then the sense of $\neg p$ would by no means be determined by Frege's determination.) *** 4.44 The sign which arises from the co-ordination of that mark "T" with the truth-possibilities is a propositional sign. **** 4.441 It is clear that to the complex of the signs "F" and "T" no object (or complex of objects) corresponds; any more than to horizontal and vertical lines or to brackets. There are no "logical objects". Something analogous holds of course for all signs, which express the same as the schemata of "T" and "F". **** 4.442 Thus e.g. | p | q | | |---+---+---| | T | T | T | | F | T | T | | T | F | | | F | F | T | is a propositional sign. (Frege's assertion sign $\vdash$ is logically altogether meaningless; in Frege (and Russell) it only shows that these authors hold as true the propositions marked in this way. $\vdash$ belongs therefore to the propositions no more than does the number of the proposition. A proposition cannot possibly assert of itself that it is true. If the sequence of the truth-possibilities in the schema is once for all determined by a rule of combination, then the last column is by itself an expression of the truth-conditions. If we write this column as a row the propositional sign becomes: "(TT--T) (p, q)", or more plainly: "(TTFT) (p, q)". (The number of places in the left-hand bracket is determined by the number of terms in the right-hand bracket.) *** 4.45 For $n$ elementary propositions there are $L_n$ possible groups of truth-conditions. The groups of truth-conditions which belong to the truth-possibilities of a number of elementary propositions can be ordered in a series. *** 4.46 Among the possible groups of truth-conditions there are two extreme cases. In the one case the proposition is true for all the truth-possibilities of the elementary propositions. We say that the truth-conditions are tautological. In the second case the proposition is false for all the truth-possibilities. The truth-conditions are self-contradictory. In the first case we call the proposition a tautology, in the second case a contradiction. **** 4.461 The proposition shows what it says, the tautology and the contradiction that they say nothing. The tautology has no truth-conditions, for it is unconditionally true; and the contradiction is on no condition true. Tautology and contradiction are without sense. (Like the point from which two arrows go out in opposite directions.) (I know, e.g. nothing about the weather, when I know that it rains or does not rain.) ***** 4.4611 Tautology and contradiction are, however, not senseless; they are part of the symbolism, in the same way that "0" is part of the symbolism of Arithmetic. **** 4.462 Tautology and contradiction are not pictures of the reality. They present no possible state of affairs. For the one allows every possible state of affairs, the other none. In the tautology the conditions of agreement with the world---the presenting relations---cancel one another, so that it stands in no presenting relation to reality. **** 4.463 The truth-conditions determine the range, which is left to the facts by the proposition. (The proposition, the picture, the model, are in a negative sense like a solid body, which restricts the free movement of another: in a positive sense, like the space limited by solid substance, in which a body may be placed.) Tautology leaves to reality the whole infinite logical space; contradiction fills the whole logical space and leaves no point to reality. Neither of them, therefore, can in any way determine reality. **** 4.464 The truth of tautology is certain, of propositions possible, of contradiction impossible. (Certain, possible, impossible: here we have an indication of that gradation which we need in the theory of probability.) **** 4.465 The logical product of a tautology and a proposition says the same as the proposition. Therefore that product is identical with the proposition. For the essence of the symbol cannot be altered without altering its sense. **** 4.466 To a definite logical combination of signs corresponds a definite logical combination of their meanings; every arbitrary combination only corresponds to the unconnected signs. That is, propositions which are true for every state of affairs cannot be combinations of signs at all, for otherwise there could only correspond to them definite combinations of objects. (And to no logical combination corresponds no combination of the objects.) Tautology and contradiction are the limiting cases of the combination of symbols, namely their dissolution. ***** 4.4661 Of course the signs are also combined with one another in the tautology and contradiction, i.e. they stand in relations to one another, but these relations are meaningless, unessential to the symbol. ** 4.5 Now it appears to be possible to give the most general form of proposition; i.e. to give a description of the propositions of some one sign language, so that every possible sense can be expressed by a symbol, which falls under the description, and so that every symbol which falls under the description can express a sense, if the meanings of the names are chosen accordingly. It is clear that in the description of the most general form of proposition only what is essential to it may be described---otherwise it would not be the most general form. That there is a general form is proved by the fact that there cannot be a proposition whose form could not have been foreseen (i.e. constructed). The general form of proposition is: Such and such is the case. *** 4.51 Suppose all elementary propositions were given me: then we can simply ask: what propositions I can build out of them. And these are all propositions and so are they limited. *** 4.52 The propositions are everything which follows from the totality of all elementary propositions (of course also from the fact that it is the totality of them all). (So, in some sense, one could say, that all propositions are generalizations of the elementary propositions.) *** 4.53 The general proposition form is a variable. - 5 Propositions are truth-functions of elementary propositions. (An elementary proposition is a truth-function of itself.) ** 5.0 (empty) *** 5.01 The elementary propositions are the truth-arguments of propositions. *** 5.02 It is natural to confuse the arguments of functions with the indices of names. For I recognize the meaning of the sign containing it from the argument just as much as from the index. In Russell's "$+cquot;, for example, "$cquot; is an index which indicates that the whole sign is the addition sign for cardinal numbers. But this way of symbolizing depends on arbitrary agreement, and one could choose a simple sign instead of "$+cquot;: but in "$\neg pquot; "$pquot; is not an index but an argument; the sense of "$\neg pquot; cannot be understood, unless the sense of "$pquot; has previously been understood. (In the name Julius Caesar, Julius is an index. The index is always part of a description of the object to whose name we attach it, e.g. The Caesar of the Julian gens.) The confusion of argument and index is, if I am not mistaken, at the root of Frege's theory of the meaning of propositions and functions. For Frege the propositions of logic were names and their arguments the indices of these names. ** 5.1 The truth-functions can be ordered in series. That is the foundation of the theory of probability. *** 5.10 (empty) **** 5.101 The truth-functions of every number of elementary propositions can be written in a schema of the following kind: | (T T T T) (p, q) | Tautology | (if $p$ then $p$; and if $q$ then $q$) $[p \supset p.q \supset q]$ | | (F T T T) (p, q) | in words: | Not both $p$ and $q$. $[\neg (p.q)]$ | | (T F T T) (p, q) | " " | If $q$ then $p$. $[q \supset p]$ | | (T T F T) (p, q) | " " | If $p$ then $q$. $[p \supset q]$ | | (T T T F) (p, q) | " " | $p$ or $q$. $[p \lor q]$ | | (F F T T) (p, q) | " " | Not $q$. $[\neg q]$ | | (F T F T) (p, q) | " " | Not $p$. $[\neg p]$ | | (F T T F) (p, q) | " " | $p$ or $q$, but not both. $[p.\neg q: \lor: q.\neg p]$ | | (T F F T) (p, q) | " " | If $p$, then $q$; and if $q$, then $p$. $[p \equiv q]$ | | (T F T F) (p, q) | " " | $p$ | | (F F F T) (p, q) | " " | Neither $p$ nor $q$. $[\neg p.\neg q or p \vert q]$ | | (T T F F) (p, q) | " " | $q$ | | (F F T F) (p, q) | " " | $p$ and not $q$. $[p.\neg q]$ | | (F T F F) (p, q) | " " | $q$ and not $p$. $[q.\neg p]$ | | (T F F F) (p, q) | " " | $p$ and $q$. $[p.q]$ | | (F F F F) (p, q) | Contradiction | ($p$ and not $p$; and $q$ and not $q$.) $[p.\neg p.q.\neg q]$ | Those truth-possibilities of its truth-arguments, which verify the proposition, I shall call its truth-grounds. *** 5.11 If the truth-grounds which are common to a number of propositions are all also truth-grounds of some one proposition, we say that the truth of this proposition follows from the truth of those propositions. *** 5.12 In particular the truth of a proposition $p$ follows from that of a proposition $q$, if all the truth-grounds of the second are truth-grounds of the first. **** 5.121 The truth-grounds of $q$ are contained in those of $p$; $p$ follows from $q$. **** 5.122 If $p$ follows from $q$, the sense of "$pquot; is contained in that of "$qquot;. **** 5.123 If a god creates a world in which certain propositions are true, he creates thereby also a world in which all propositions consequent on them are true. And similarly he could not create a world in which the proposition "p" is true without creating all its objects. **** 5.124 A proposition asserts every proposition which follows from it. ***** 5.1241 "p.q" is one of the propositions which assert "p" and at the same time one of the propositions which assert "q". Two propositions are opposed to one another if there is no significant proposition which asserts them both. Every proposition which contradicts another, denies it. *** 5.13 That the truth of one proposition follows from the truth of other propositions, we perceive from the structure of the propositions. **** 5.131 If the truth of one proposition follows from the truth of others, this expresses itself in relations in which the forms of these propositions stand to one another, and we do not need to put them in these relations first by connecting them with one another in a proposition; for these relations are internal, and exist as soon as, and by the very fact that, the propositions exist. ***** 5.1311 When we conclude from $p \lor q$ and $\neg p$ to $q$ the relation between the forms of the propositions "$p \lor qquot; and "$\neg pquot; is here concealed by the method of symbolizing. But if we write, e.g. instead of "$p \lor qquot; "$p|q.|.p|qquot; and instead of "$\neg pquot; "$p|pquot; ($p|q$=neither $p$ nor $q$), then the inner connexion becomes obvious. (The fact that we can infer $fa$ from $(x).fx$ shows that generality is present also in the symbol "$(x).fxquot;. **** TODO 5.132 If $p$ follows from $q$, I can conclude from $q$ to $p$; infer $p$ from $q$. The method of inference is to be understood from the two propositions alone. Only they themselves can justify the inference. Laws of inference, which---as in Frege and Russell---are to justify the conclusions, are senseless and would be superfluous. **** 5.133 All inference takes place a priori. **** 5.134 From an elementary proposition no other can be inferred. **** 5.135 In no way can an inference be made from the existence of one state of affairs to the existence of another entirely different from it. **** 5.136 There is no causal nexus which justifies such an inference. ***** 5.1361 The events of the future cannot be inferred from those of the present. Superstition is the belief in the causal nexus. ***** 5.1362 The freedom of the will consists in the fact that future actions cannot be known now. We could only know them if causality were an inner necessity, like that of logical deduction.---The connexion of knowledge and what is known is that of logical necessity. ("$A$ knows that $p$ is the case" is senseless if $p$ is a tautology.) ***** 5.1363 If from the fact that a proposition is obvious to us it does not follow that it is true, then obviousness is no justification for our belief in its truth. *** 5.14 If a proposition follows from another, then the latter says more than the former, the former less than the latter. **** 5.141 If $p$ follows from $q$ and $q$ from $p$ then they are one and the same proposition. **** 5.142 A tautology follows from all propositions: it says nothing. **** 5.143 Contradiction is something shared by propositions, which no proposition has in common with another. Tautology is that which is shared by all propositions, which have nothing in common with one another. Contradiction vanishes so to speak outside, tautology inside all propositions. Contradiction is the external limit of the propositions, tautology their substanceless centre. *** 5.15 If Tr is the number of the truth-grounds of the proposition "r", Trs the number of those truth-grounds of the proposition "s" which are at the same time truth-grounds of "r", then we call the ratio Trs: Tr the measure of the probability which the proposition "r" gives to the proposition "s". **** 5.151 Suppose in a schema like that above in No. 5.101 Tr is the number of the "T"'s in the proposition r, Trs the number of those "T"'s in the proposition s, which stand in the same columns as "T"'s of the proposition r; then the proposition r gives to the proposition s the probability Trs: Tr. ***** 5.1511 There is no special object peculiar to probability propositions. **** 5.152 Propositions which have no truth-arguments in common with one another we call independent. Independent propositions (e.g. any two elementary propositions) give to one another the probability $\frac{1}{2}$. If $p$ follows from $q$, the proposition $q$ gives to the proposition $p$ the probability 1. The certainty of logical conclusion is a limiting case of probability. (Application to tautology and contradiction.) **** 5.153 A proposition is in itself neither probable nor improbable. An event occurs or does not occur, there is no middle course. **** 5.154 In an urn there are equal numbers of white and black balls (and no others). I draw one ball after another and put them back in the urn. Then I can determine by the experiment that the numbers of the black and white balls which are drawn approximate as the drawing continues. So this is not a mathematical fact. If then, I say, It is equally probable that I should draw a white and a black ball, this means, All the circumstances known to me (including the natural laws hypothetically assumed) give to the occurrence of the one event no more probability than to the occurrence of the other. That is they give---as can easily be understood from the above explanations---to each the probability $\frac{1}{2}$. What I can verify by the experiment is that the occurrence of the two events is independent of the circumstances with which I have no closer acquaintance. **** 5.155 The unit of the probability proposition is: The circumstances---with which I am not further acquainted---give to the occurrence of a definite event such and such a degree of probability. **** 5.156 Probability is a generalization. It involves a general description of a propositional form. Only in default of certainty do we need probability. If we are not completely acquainted with a fact, but know something about its form. (A proposition can, indeed, be an incomplete picture of a certain state of affairs, but it is always a complete picture.) The probability proposition is, as it were, an extract from other propositions. ** 5.2 The structures of propositions stand to one another in internal relations. *** 5.21 We can bring out these internal relations in our manner of expression, by presenting a proposition as the result of an operation which produces it from other propositions (the bases of the operation). *** 5.22 The operation is the expression of a relation between the structures of its result and its bases. *** 5.23 The operation is that which must happen to a proposition in order to make another out of it. **** 5.231 And that will naturally depend on their formal properties, on the internal similarity of their forms. **** 5.232 The internal relation which orders a series is equivalent to the operation by which one term arises from another. **** 5.233 The first place in which an operation can occur is where a proposition arises from another in a logically significant way; i.e. where the logical construction of the proposition begins. **** 5.234 The truth-functions of elementary proposition, are results of operations which have the elementary propositions as bases. (I call these operations, truth-operations.) ***** 5.2341 The sense of a truth-function of $p$ is a function of the sense of $p$. Denial, logical addition, logical multiplication, etc., etc., are operations. (Denial reverses the sense of a proposition.) *** 5.24 An operation shows itself in a variable; it shows how we can proceed from one form of proposition to another. It gives expression to the difference between the forms. (And that which is common the the bases, and the result of an operation, is the bases themselves.) **** 5.241 The operation does not characterize a form but only the difference between forms. **** 5.242 The same operation which makes "q" from "p", makes "r" from "q", and so on. This can only be expressed by the fact that "p", "q", "r", etc., are variables which give general expression to certain formal relations. *** 5.25 The occurrence of an operation does not characterize the sense of a proposition. For an operation does not assert anything; only its result does, and this depends on the bases of the operation. (Operation and function must not be confused with one another.) **** 5.251 A function cannot be its own argument, but the result of an operation can be its own basis. **** 5.252 Only in this way is the progress from term to term in a formal series possible (from type to type in the hierarchy of Russell and Whitehead). (Russell and Whitehead have not admitted the possibility of this progress but have made use of it all the same.) ***** 5.2521 The repeated application of an operation to its own result I call its successive application ("O'O'O'a" is the result of the threefold successive application of "O'$\xiquot; to "a"). In a similar sense I speak of the successive application of several operations to a number of propositions. ***** 5.2522 The general term of the formal series a, O'a, O'O'a,…. I write thus: "[a, x, O'x]". This expression in brackets is a variable. The first term of the expression is the beginning of the formal series, the second the form of an arbitrary term x of the series, and the third the form of that term of the series which immediately follows x. ***** 5.2523 The concept of the successive application of an operation is equivalent to the concept "and so on". **** 5.253 One operation can reverse the effect of another. Operations can cancel one another. **** 5.254 Operations can vanish (e.g. denial in "$\neg\neg pquot;. $\neg\neg p = p$). ** 5.3 All propositions are results of truth-operations on the elementary propositions. The truth-operation is the way in which a truth-function arises from elementary propositions. According to the nature of truth-operations, in the same way as out of elementary propositions arise their truth-functions, from truth-functions arises a new one. Every truth-operation creates from truth-functions of elementary propositions, another truth-function of elementary propositions i.e. a proposition. The result of every truth-operation on the results of truth-operations on elementary propositions is also the result of one truth-operation on elementary propositions. Every proposition is the result of truth-operations on elementary propositions. *** 5.31 The Schemata No. 4.31 are also significant, if "$pquot;, "$qquot;, "$rquot;, etc. are not elementary propositions. And it is easy to see that the propositional sign in No. 4.442 expresses one truth-function of elementary propositions even when "$pquot; and "$qquot; are truth-functions of elementary propositions. *** 5.32 All truth-functions are results of the successive application of a finite number of truth-operations to elementary propositions. ** 5.4 Here it becomes clear that there are no such things as "logical objects" or "logical constants" (in the sense of Frege and Russell). *** 5.41 For all those results of truth-operations on truth-functions are identical, which are one and the same truth-function of elementary propositions. *** 5.42 That $\lor$, $\supset$, etc., are not relations in the sense of right and left, etc., is obvious. The possibility of crosswise definition of the logical "primitive signs" of Frege and Russell shows by itself that these are not primitive signs and that they signify no relations. And it is obvious that the "$\supsetquot; which we define by means of "$\negquot; and "$\lorquot; is identical with that by which we define "$\lorquot; with the help of "$\negquot;, and that this "$\lorquot; is the same as the first, and so on. *** 5.43 That from a fact $p$ an infinite number of others should follow, namely, $\neg\neg p$, $\neg\neg\neg\neg p$, etc., is indeed hardly to be believed, and it is no less wonderful that the infinite number of propositions of logic (of mathematics) should follow from half a dozen "primitive propositions". But the propositions of logic say the same thing. That is, nothing. *** 5.44 Truth-functions are not material functions. If e.g. an affirmation can be produced by repeated denial, is the denial---in any sense---contained in the affirmation? Does "$\neg\neg pquot; deny $\neg p$, or does it affirm $p$; or both? The proposition "$\neg\neg pquot; does not treat of denial as an object, but the possibility of denial is already prejudged in affirmation. And if there was an object called "$\negquot;, then "$\neg\neg pquot; would have to say something other than "$pquot;. For the one proposition would then treat of $\neg$, the other would not. **** 5.441 This disappearance of the apparent logical constants also occurs if "$\neg(\exists x).\neg fxquot; says the same as "$(x).fxquot;, or "$(\exists x).fx.x=aquot; the same as "$faquot;. **** 5.442 If a proposition is given to us then the results of all truth-operations which have it as their basis are given with it. *** 5.45 If there are logical primitive signs a correct logic must make clear their position relative to one another and justify their existence. The construction of logic out of its primitive signs must become clear. **** 5.451 If logic has primitive ideas these must be independent of one another. If a primitive idea is introduced it must be introduced in all contexts in which it occurs at all. One cannot therefore introduce it for one context and then again for another. For example, if denial is introduced, we must understand it in propositions of the form "$\neg pquot;, just as in propositions like "$\neg(p \lor q)quot;, "$(\exists x).\neg fxquot; and others. We may not first introduce it for one class of cases and then for another, for it would then remain doubtful whether its meaning in the two cases was the same, and there would be no reason to use the same way of symbolizing in the two cases. (In short, what Frege ("Grundgesetze der Arithmetik") has said about the introduction of signs by definitions holds, mutatis mutandis, for the introduction of primitive signs also.) **** 5.452 The introduction of a new expedient in the symbolism of logic must always be an event full of consequences. No new symbol may be introduced in logic in brackets or in the margin---with, so to speak, an entirely innocent face. (Thus in the "Principia Mathematica" of Russell and Whitehead there occur definitions and primitive propositions in words. Why suddenly words here? This would need a justification. There was none, and can be none for the process is actually not allowed.) But if the introduction of a new expedient has proved necessary in one place, we must immediately ask: Where is this expedient always to be used? Its position in logic must be made clear. **** 5.453 All numbers in logic must be capable of justification. Or rather it must become plain that there are no numbers in logic. There are no pre-eminent numbers. **** 5.454 In logic there is no side by side, there can be no classification. In logic there cannot be a more general and a more special. ***** 5.4541 The solution of logical problems must be simple for they set the standard of simplicity. Men have always thought that there must be a sphere of questions whose answers---a priori---are symmetrical and united into a closed regular structure. A sphere in which the proposition, simplex sigillum veri, is valid. *** 5.46 When we have rightly introduced the logical signs, the sense of all their combinations has been already introduced with them: therefore not only "$p \lor qquot; but also "$\neg(p \lor \neg q)quot;, etc. etc. We should then already have introduced the effect of all possible combinations of brackets; and it would then have become clear that the proper general primitive signs are not "$p \lor qquot;, "$(\exists x).fxquot;, etc., but the most general form of their combinations. **** 5.461 The apparently unimportant fact that the apparent relations like $\lor$ and $\supset$ need brackets---unlike real relations---is of great importance. The use of brackets with these apparent primitive signs shows that these are not the real primitive signs; and nobody of course would believe that the brackets have meaning by themselves. ***** 5.4611 Logical operation signs are punctuations. *** 5.47 It is clear that everything which can be said beforehand about the form of all propositions at all can be said on one occasion. For all logical operations are already contained in the elementary proposition. For "$faquot; says the same as "$(\exists x).fx.x=aquot;. Where there is composition, there is argument and function, and where these are, all logical constants already are. One could say: the one logical constant is that which all propositions, according to their nature, have in common with one another. That however is the general form of proposition. **** 5.471 The general form of proposition is the essence of proposition. ***** 5.4711 To give the essence of proposition means to give the essence of all description, therefore the essence of the world. **** 5.472 The description of the most general propositional form is the description of the one and only general primitive sign in logic. **** 5.473 Logic must take care of itself. A possible sign must also be able to signify. Everything which is possible in logic is also permitted. ("Socrates is identical" means nothing because there is no property which is called "identical". The proposition is senseless because we have not made some arbitrary determination, not because the symbol is in itself unpermissible.) In a certain sense we cannot make mistakes in logic. ***** 5.4731 Self-evidence, of which Russell has said so much, can only be discard in logic by language itself preventing every logical mistake. That logic is a priori consists in the fact that we cannot think illogically. ***** 5.4732 We cannot give a sign the wrong sense. ****** 5.47321 Occam's razor is, of course, not an arbitrary rule nor one justified by its practical success. It simply says that unnecessary elements in a symbolism mean nothing. Signs which serve one purpose are logically equivalent, signs which serve no purpose are logically meaningless. ***** 5.4733 Frege says: Every legitimately constructed proposition must have a sense; and I say: Every possible proposition is legitimately constructed, and if it has no sense this can only be because we have given no meaning to some of its constituent parts. (Even if we believe that we have done so.) Thus "Socrates is identical" says nothing, because we have given no meaning to the word "identical" as adjective. For when it occurs as the sign of equality it symbolizes in an entirely different way---the symbolizing relation is another---therefore the symbol is in the two cases entirely different; the two symbols have the sign in common with one another only by accident. **** 5.474 The number of necessary fundamental operations depends only on our notation. **** 5.475 It is only a question of constructing a system of signs of a definite number of dimensions---of a definite mathematical multiplicity. **** 5.476 It is clear that we are not concerned here with a number of primitive ideas which must be signified but with the expression of a rule. ** 5.5 Every truth-function is a result of the successive application of the operation (-----T)($\xi$,….) to elementary propositions. This operation denies all the propositions in the right-hand bracket and I call it the negation of these propositions. *** 5.50 (empty) **** 5.501 An expression in brackets whose terms are propositions I indicate---if the order of the terms in the bracket is indifferent---by a sign of the form "($\xi$)". "$\xiquot; is a variable whose values are the terms of the expression in brackets, and the line over the variable indicates that it stands for all its values in the bracket. (Thus if $\xi$ has the 3 values $P$, $Q$, $R$, then $(\xi)=(P, Q, R)$.) The values of the variables must be determined. The determination is the description of the propositions which the variable stands for. How the description of the terms of the expression in brackets takes place is unessential. We may distinguish 3 kinds of description: 1. Direct enumeration. In this case we can place simply its constant values instead of the variable. 2. Giving a function fx, whose values for all values of x are the propositions to be described. 3. Giving a formal law, according to which those propositions are constructed. In this case the terms of the expression in brackets are all the terms of a formal series. **** 5.502 Therefore I write instead of "(-----T)($\xi$,….)", "$N(\xi)quot;. $N(\xi)$ is the negation of all the values of the propositional variable $\xi$. **** 5.503 As it is obviously easy to express how propositions can be constructed by means of this operation and how propositions are not to be constructed by means of it, this must be capable of exact expression. *** 5.51 If $\xi$ has only one value, then $N(\xi) = \neg p$ (not $p$), if it has two values then $N(\xi) = \neg p.\neg q$ (neither $p$ nor $q$). **** 5.511 How can the all-embracing logic which mirrors the world use such special catches and manipulations? Only because all these are connected into an infinitely fine network, to the great mirror. **** 5.512 "$\neg pquot; is true if "$pquot; is false. Therefore in the true proposition "$\neg pquot; "$pquot; is a false proposition. How then can the stroke "$\negquot; bring it into agreement with reality? That which denies in "$\neg pquot; is however not "$\negquot;, but that which all signs of this notation, which deny p, have in common. Hence the common rule according to which "$\neg pquot;, "$\neg\neg\neg pquot;, "$\neg p \lor \negpquot;, "\neg p.\neg p", etc. etc. (to infinity) are constructed. And this which is common to them all mirrors denial. **** 5.513 We could say: What is common to all symbols, which assert both $p$ and $q$, is the proposition "$p.qquot;. What is common to all symbols, which asserts either $p$ or $q$, is the proposition "$p \lor qquot;. And similarly we can say: Two propositions are opposed to one another when they have nothing in common with one another; and every proposition has only one negative, because there is only one proposition which lies altogether outside it. Thus in Russell's notation also it appears evident that "$q: p \lor \neg pquot; says the same thing as "$qquot;; that "$p \lor \neg pquot; says nothing. **** 5.514 If a notation is fixed, there is in it a rule according to which all the propositions denying $p$ are constructed, a rule according to which all the propositions asserting $p$ are constructed, a rule according to which all the propositions asserting $p$ or $q$ are constructed, and so on. These rules are equivalent to the symbols and in them their sense is mirrored. **** 5.515 It must be recognized in our symbols that what is connected by "$\lorquot;, ".", etc., must be propositions. And this is the case, for the symbols "$pquot; and "$qquot; presuppose "$\lorquot;, "$\negquot;, etc. If the sign "$pquot; in "$p \lor qquot; does not stand for a complex sign, then by itself it cannot have sense; but then also the signs "$p \lor pquot;, "$p.pquot;, etc. which have the same sense as "$pquot; have no sense. If, however, "$p \lor pquot; has no sense, then also "$p \lor qquot; can have no sense. ***** 5.5151 Must the sign of the negative proposition be constructed by means of the sign of the positive? Why should one not be able to express the negative proposition by means of a negative fact? (Like: if "$aquot; does not stand in a certain relation to "$bquot;, it could express that $aRb$ is not the case.) But here also the negative proposition is indirectly constructed with the positive. The positive proposition must presuppose the existence of the negative proposition and conversely. *** 5.52 If the values of $\xi$ are the total values of a function $fx$ for all values of $x$, then $N(\xi) = \neg(\exists x).fx$. **** 5.521 I separate the concept all from the truth-function. Frege and Russell have introduced generality in connexion with the logical product or the logical sum. Then it would be difficult to understand the propositions "$(\exists x).fxquot; and "$(x).fxquot; in which both ideas lie concealed. **** 5.522 That which is peculiar to the "symbolism of generality" is firstly, that it refers to a logical prototype, and secondly, that it makes constants prominent. **** 5.523 The generality symbol occurs as an argument. **** 5.524 If the objects are given, therewith are all objects also given. If the elementary propositions are given, then therewith all elementary propositions are also given. **** 5.525 It is not correct to render the proposition "$(\exists x).fxquot;---as Russell does---in the words "$fx$ is possible". Certainty, possibility or impossibility of a state of affairs are not expressed by a proposition but by the fact that an expression is a tautology, a significant proposition or a contradiction. That precedent to which one would always appeal, must be present in the symbol itself. **** 5.526 One can describe the world completely by completely generalized propositions, i.e. without from the outset co-ordinating any name with a definite object. In order then to arrive at the customary way of expression we need simply say after an expression "there is only and only one $x$, which …": and this $x$ is $a$. ***** 5.5261 A completely generalized proposition is like every other proposition composite. (This is shown by the fact that in "$(\exists x, \phi).\phi xquot; we must mention "$\phiquot; and "$xquot; separately. Both stand independently in signifying relations to the world as in the ungeneralized proposition.) A characteristic of a composite symbol: it has something in common with other symbols. ***** 5.5262 The truth or falsehood of every proposition alters something in the general structure of the world. And the range which is allowed to its structure by the totality of elementary propositions is exactly that which the completely general propositions delimit. (If an elementary proposition is true, then, at any rate, there is one more elementary proposition true.) *** 5.53 Identity of the object I express by identity of the sign and not by means of a sign of identity. Difference of the objects by difference of the signs. ***** 5.5301 That identity is not a relation between objects is obvious. This becomes very clear if, for example, one considers the proposition "$(x): fx.\supset.x = aquot;. What this proposition says is simply that only $a$ satisfies the function $f$, and not that only such things satisfy the function $f$ which have a certain relation to $a$. One could of course say that in fact only $a$ has this relation to $a$, but in order to express this we should need the sign of identity itself. ***** 5.5302 Russell's definition of "=" won't do; because according to it one cannot say that two objects have all their properties in common. (Even if this proposition is never true, it is nevertheless significant.) ***** 5.5303 Roughly speaking: to say of two things that they are identical is nonsense, and to say of one thing that it is identical with itself is to say nothing. **** 5.531 I write therefore not "$f(a,b).a = bquot; but "$f(a,a)quot; (or "$f(b,b)quot;). And not "$f(a,b).\neg a = bquot;, but "$f(a,b)quot;. **** 5.532 And analogously: not "$(\exists x,y).f(x,y). x = yquot;, but "$(\exists x).f(x,x)quot;; and not "$(\exists x,y).f(x,y).\neg x = yquot;, but "$(\exists x,y).f(x,y)quot;. (Therefore instead of Russell's "$(\exists x,y).f(x,y)quot;: "$(\exists x,y).f(x,y).\lor.(\exists x).f(x,x)quot;.) ***** 5.5321 Instead of "$(x): fx \supset x = aquot; we therefore write e.g. "$(\exists x).fx.\supset.fa:\neg(\exists x,y).fx.fyquot;. And if the proposition "only one $x$ satisfies $f()quot; reads: "$(\neg x).fx.\supset.fa:\neg(\exists x,y).fx.fyquot;. **** 5.533 The identity sign is therefore not an essential constituent of logical notation. **** 5.534 And we see that the apparent propositions like: "$a = aquot;, "$a = b.b = c.\supset a = cquot;, "$(x).x = xquot;. "$(\exists x).x = aquot;, etc. cannot be written in a correct logical notation at all. **** 5.535 So all problems disappear which are connected with such pseudo-propositions. This is the place to solve all the problems with arise through Russell's "Axiom of Infinity". What the axiom of infinity is meant to say would be expressed in language by the fact that there is an infinite number of names with different meanings. ***** 5.5351 There are certain cases in which one is tempted to use expressions of the form "$a = aquot; or "$p\supset pquot; and of that kind. And indeed this takes place when one would speak of the archetype Proposition, Thing, etc. So Russell in the Principles of Mathematics has rendered the nonsense "$p$ is a proposition" in symbols by "$p \supset pquot; and has put it as hypothesis before certain propositions to show that their places for arguments could only be occupied by propositions. (It is nonsense to place the hypothesis $p \supset p$ before a proposition in order to ensure that its arguments have the right form, because the hypotheses for a non-proposition as argument becomes not false but meaningless, and because the proposition itself becomes senseless for arguments of the wrong kind, and therefore it survives the wrong arguments no better and no worse than the senseless hypothesis attached for this purpose.) ***** 5.5352 Similarly it was proposed to express "There are no things" by "$\neg(\exists x).x = xquot;. But even if this were a proposition---would it not be true if indeed "There were things", but these were not identical with themselves? *** 5.54 In the general propositional form, propositions occur in a proposition only as bases of the truth-operations. **** 5.541 At first sight it appears as if there were also a different way in which one proposition could occur in another. Especially in certain propositional forms of psychology, like "$A$ thinks, that $p$ is the case", or "$A$ thinks $pquot;, etc. Here it appears superficially as if the proposition $p$ stood to the object $A$ in a kind of relation. (And in modern epistemology (Russell, Moore, etc.) those propositions have been conceived in this way.) **** 5.542 But it is clear that "$A$ believes that $pquot;, "$A$ thinks $pquot;, "$A$ says $pquot;, are of the form "'$p