Zalabardo on Wittgenstein and the Unity of the Proposition

Abstract

ABSTRACTWhat explains the difference between a proposition and a mere list of the words it contains, presented in the same order? What unites the parts of a proposition to form a whole? José Zalabardo argues that Wittgenstein’s contextualism allows him to sidestep this problem in the Tractatus, by rejecting the compositional view of propositions that gives rise to it. This paper aims to show that Zalabardo’s account of Wittgenstein’s contextualism departs from Wittgenstein’s view, and does so in a way that leaves our ability to understand new propositions a mystery.