57
Let us apply the method of
(3) to the account in the Theaetetus:
[L|l]et
us consider a language game for which this
ˇis the correct
account
. really
holds.
Let [T|t]he language
then
serve
s to describe
combinations of
34
of coloured
on a
surface.
The
are squares
and
a complex like a
chess board.
There are red, green, whi
te and black squares.
The words of the language are (correspondingly):
“r”, “g”,
“w”, “b”, and a sentence is
a
of these
words.
They describe an arrangement of coloured squares in the order
etc..
The sentence “
r r b g g g r w w”
describes then, for instance, an arrangement of this sort:
Here the sentence is a complex of names, to which a co
mplex of
elements corresponds.
The primary elements are the coloured squares
:
– “but are these simple?”
–
I
can't think of anything
don't know [t|w]hat
it
I [w|c]ould
be more
natural
ly to call
ˇthe
“
ˇ◇◇◇simple
ˇ
elements”
, in this language
game.
In other
circumstance circumstances, however, I
[sh|w]ould
call a coloured square “complex
[2|”],
– composed, say, of two rectangles, or of the elements
colour and shape.
But the concept
of
‘complex
ity’ might
also be extended
that the smaller surface is said to be
“composed” of a larger surface and one subtracted from
it.
Compare
[“|‘]composition
[”|’]
of f
[r|o]rces,
the
[“|‘]division
[”|’]
of a line by a point outside it; these expressions show that
certain circumstances we
are inclined to
the
smaller
thing as
re
[l|s]ult of
the
[“|‘]composition[”|’]
of combining what is
larger
ˇ things, and the larger
thing as the result of
division of
what
is a smaller
[.|t]hing
But I don't know whether I should say that the figure which
our sentence describes consists of four elements or
o
[r|f] nine.
Well, doe
s
35
does that sentence consist of four
letters of o
[r|f] nine? –
And what are
its elements: the letter types or the
letters?
And isn't it
all the same
quite
indifferent |
which we say, if only
we avoid
misunderstandings? in the particular
case??