The reason why ~x is
meaningless, is simply that we have given no meaning to the symbol
~ξ.
I.e. whereas
φx &
~p look as if they were of the
same type, they are not so because in order to give a meaning to
~x you would have to have
some
property
~ξ.
What symbolises in φξ is
that φ
stands to
the left of
a proper name:
& obviously this is not so in ~p.
What is common to all
propositions in which the name of a
property (to speak loosely) occurs is that this name stands to
the left of a
name-form.
The reason why
e.g. it seems as if
‘Plato
Socrates’ might have a
meaning, while ‘Abracadabra
Socrates’ would never be
suspected to have one, is because we know that
Plato has one, & do
not observe that in order that the whole phrase should have one, what
is necessary is
not that
Plato should have one, but that the
fact
that Plato is to
the left of a name should.
The
reason why ‘The property of
not
being green is not green’ is
nonsense,
is because we have only given meaning
to the fact that
green stands to the right of a
name; & ‘the property of not being
green’ is obviously not
that.
φ cannot possibly stand to the left of (or in any
other relation to)
≡ the symbol of a
property. For the symbol of a property
e.g. ψx is
that ψ
stands to
the left of a name form, &
another
symbol φ cannot possibly stand to the left of such a
fact: if it could, we should have an illogical
language,
which is
impossible.
p is false
= ~(p is true)
Def.