Tractatus 6.3751

Abstract

It is easy to show that, in the Tractatus, colour ascriptions cannot be elementary propositions. But it is not so easy to determine which kind of analysis could be made of judgments of perception like "a is red". Wittgenstein gives us a kind of hint on aphorism 6.3751. He asks the reader to keep in mind the way we deal with the mutual exclusion of colours within the realm of physics. Even so, it is difficult to determine what exactly he is trying to say. I offer an interpretation that links the colour exclusion problem with the treatment given to numbers and the notion of "series of forms" (Formenreihe). Some passages of the Philosophische Bemerkungen are used to bring some support to this line of thought.