Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus · Chapter
5.101 explained
Wittgenstein presents a complete schema of truth-functions for two elementary propositions, p and q, listing all sixteen possible combinations of truth-values and their corresponding verbal expressions, from tautology to contradiction, and
What happens
Wittgenstein presents a complete schema of truth-functions for two elementary propositions, p and q, listing all sixteen possible combinations of truth-values and their corresponding verbal expressions, from tautology to contradiction, and introduces the concept of truth-grounds.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Exposition.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
This passage marks the story’s dramatic climax because it presents the moment when the protagonist’s obsessive…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Logic and Tautology
The schema explicitly includes tautology and contradiction as limiting cases of truth-functions.
- Logical Atomism
The analysis of propositions into elementary propositions and their truth-functions exemplifies logical atomism.
Characters to notice
- Mr. Wittgenstein
Author of the Tractatus, presenting the truth-functional schema.
Key passages
“Those truth-possibilities of its truth-arguments, which verify the proposition, I shall call its truth-grounds.”
The truth-possibilities that make a proposition true are its truth-grounds.
Definition of truth-grounds in terms of verifying truth-possibilities.
