Picture theory of language
Linguistic theory
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The picture theory of language, also known as the picture theory of meaning, is a theory of linguistic reference and meaning articulated by Ludwig Wittgenstein in the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. Wittgenstein suggested that a meaningful proposition pictured a state of affairs or atomic fact.[1][2] Wittgenstein compared the concept of logical pictures (German: Bilder) with spatial pictures.[3] The picture theory of language originated from Russell's correspondence theory of truth.[4]
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 picture a possible state of affairs.
Wittgenstein's later investigations laid out in the First Part of Philosophical Investigations refuted and replaced his earlier picture-based theory with a use theory of meaning. However, the second psychology-focused Part of Philosophical Investigations employs the concept as a metaphor for human psychology.[5]