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Is ‘Tractatus’ 5.542 More Obscure in English than it is in German?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2009

Pamela M. Huby
Affiliation:
University of Liverpool

Extract

It is odd that something that Wittgenstein says is clear should have been so puzzling to English-speaking philosophers. 5.542 begins:— ‘Es ist aber klar, dass “A glaubt, dass p”, “A denkt p”, “A sagt p” von der Form, “p ‘sagt p” sind.’ I would like to suggest that one reason for the difficulties that have been felt with this lies in a misleading translation, particularly of, “p ‘sagt p”. For this both English translations have “p” says p’. But since German has a single present tense where English has two, ‘sagt’ may be rendered either ‘says’, or ‘is saying’, and I want to argue that ‘“p” is saying p’ is preferable.

Type
Discussion
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Philosophy 1969

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