# Picture theory of language

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{{Short description|Linguistic theory}}
The '''picture theory of language''', also known as the '''picture theory of meaning''', is a theory of linguistic [reference](/source/reference) and [meaning](/source/Meaning_(philosophy_of_language)) articulated by [Ludwig Wittgenstein](/source/Ludwig_Wittgenstein) in the ''[Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus](/source/Tractatus_Logico-Philosophicus)''. Wittgenstein suggested that a meaningful proposition pictured a [state of affairs](/source/State_of_affairs_(philosophy)) or [atomic fact](/source/atomic_fact).<ref>[http://www.iep.utm.edu/wittgens/ Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889—1951) (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy)]</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.2307/2183303| jstor = 2183303| title = Wittgenstein's Picture Theory of Language| journal = The Philosophical Review| volume = 73| issue = 4| pages = 493| year = 1964| last1 = Keyt | first1 = D. }}</ref> Wittgenstein compared the concept of logical pictures ({{langx|de|Bilder}}) with spatial pictures.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Picture Theory of Meaning in the Tractatus as a Development of Moore's and Russell's Theories of Judgment |author=V. Hope |journal=Philosophy |volume=44 |issue=168 |date=April 1969 |pages=140–148 |jstor=3750136 |doi=10.1017/s0031819100024335}}</ref> The picture theory of language is considered a [correspondence theory of truth](/source/correspondence_theory_of_truth).<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Picture Theory of Meaning |author=Edna Daitz |journal=Mind |volume=62 |issue=246 |date=April 1953 |pages=184–201 |jstor=2251383 |doi=10.1093/mind/lxii.246.184}}</ref>

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](/source/Philosophical_Investigations)'' refuted and replaced his earlier picture-based theory with a [use theory of meaning](/source/use_theory_of_meaning). However, the second psychology-focused Part of ''Philosophical Investigations'' employs the concept as a metaphor for human psychology.<ref name="Philosophical Investigations">{{cite book|last=Wittgenstein|first=Ludwig|translator= G.E.M. Anscombe|translator-link= G.E.M. Anscombe|title=Philosophical Investigations|url=https://archive.org/details/philosophicalinv0000witt|url-access=registration|year=1968|publisher=Basil Blackwell & Mott, Ltd.|location=New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/philosophicalinv0000witt/page/178 178]|edition=Third|quote=The human body is the best picture of the human soul.}}</ref>

==See also==
* [Early Wittgenstein](/source/Early_Wittgenstein)
* [Truth-conditional semantics](/source/Truth-conditional_semantics)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Ludwig Wittgenstein}}

Category:Theories of language
Category:Ludwig Wittgenstein

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