But though a particular proposition “p or not-p” has no meaning, a general proposition “for all p's, p or not-p” has a meaning because this does not contain the nonsensical function “p or not-p” but the function “p or not-q” just as “for all x's xRx” contains the function “xRy”.

⌊⌊ˇ* This is quite arbitrary but, if we once have fixed on which order the poles have to stand we must of course stick to our convention.⌋⌋ ⌊⌊ˇ If for instance “a p b” says p then b p a says nothing. (It does not say ~p) But a - a p b - b is the same symbol as apb (here the ab function vanishes automatically) for here the new poles are related to the same side of p as the old ones. The question is always: how are the new poles correlated to p compared with the way the old poles are correlated to ~p. ⌋⌋

(2015–) Wittgenstein Source Bergen Nachlass Edition (WS-BNE). Edited by the Wittgenstein Archives at the University of Bergen under the direction of Alois Pichler. In: Wittgenstein Source, curated by Alois Pichler (2009–) and Joseph Wang-Kathrein (2020–). (N) Bergen: WAB.