Synopsis:
- Philosophical problems are false problems: they are due to linguistic misunderstandings
- The structure of language reflects the structure of the world
- The world is made of complex facts that can be broken down into simpler facts
- Language is made of complex propositions that can be broken down into simpler propositions
- Language is like a map of the world: the connections between the elements of language reflects the connections between the elements of the world
- The structure of language reflects the structure of the world
- The totality of true propositions (the totality of science) provide a representation of the world that is adequate and complete
- Understanding a proposition is knowing "what is the case if it is true" (to which reality it corresponds)
- The meaning of the world cannot be understood from inside the world
- Ethics is impossible because we are inside the world that ethics struggles to understand
- Metaphysics is a fictitious discipline due to a wrong use of language: it is neither true nor false, it cannot be justified (just like religion and magic)
- Mathematical entities are pure constructions of the mind: the mathematician is an inventor
- Mathematics cannot be grounded in the world: it is a game played by mathematicians
- Language has a function
- Words are tools
- Assertions, commands, questions, etc
- Language is a game between people
- The meaning of a proposition can only be understood in its context
- Truth is a multi-faceted concept: different statements can be all true without being true in the same way ("alethic pluralism")
- The meaning of a word is due to the consensus of a society
- To understand a word is to understand a language
- To understand a language is to master the linguistic skills
- Definitions are ambigous or implausible
- Categories are based on "family resemblance", not on features
- There is no ghost in the machine, no mind that understands, just "understanding"
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