WITTGENSTEIN ON THE GENERAL FORM OF A PROPOSITION
ROBERT STREIFFERABSTRACT. Wittgenstein claims that [p, ξ,N(ξ)] is the general form of a proposition and that any proposition can be generated by successive applications of the N(ξ) operator. After explaining the general form and the intended procedure, I argue that, regardless of whether the operator is understood as applying to the set of all elementary propositions or to subsets of all elementary propositions, the procedure fails to generate all truth-functional or quantificational propositions. A different procedure, however, allows the generations of many, although not all, of the propositions in the intended sequence.