Let us apply the method of

№
chapter

(3) to the account in the Theaetetus: [L|l]et us consider a language game for which this ˇis the correct account. really holds. Let [T|t]he language then serves to describe combinations of

of coloured

patches
spots

on a surface. The

patches
spots

are squares and

form
make

a complex like a chess board. There are red, green, white and black squares. The words of the language are (correspondingly): “r”, “g”, “w”, “b”, and a sentence is a

row
string

of these words. They describe an arrangement of coloured squares in the order

1	2
3	4

1	2	3
4	5	6
7	8	9

etc..
The sentence “ r r b g g g r w w” describes then, for instance, an arrangement of this sort:

r	r	b
g	g	g
r	w	w

Here the sentence is a complex of names, to which a complex of elements corresponds. The primary elements are the coloured squares: – “but are these simple?” – I can't think of anything don't know [t|w]hat it I [w|c]ould be more naturally to call ˇthe “ˇ◇◇◇simpleˇ elements”, in this language game. In other circumstance circumstances, however, I [sh|w]ould call a coloured square “complex[2|”], – composed, say, of two rectangles, or of the elements colour and shape. But the concept of ‘complexity’ might also be extended

in such a way
so

that the smaller surface is said to be “composed” of a larger surface and one subtracted from it. Compare

the
the

under
in

certain circumstances we are inclined to

regard
take

the smaller thing as

the
a

re[l|s]ult of the [“|‘]composition[”|’] of combining what is largerˇ things, and the larger thing as the result of

a
the

division of what is a smaller[.|t]hing
But I don't know whether I should say that the figure which our sentence describes consists of four elements or o[r|f] nine. Well, does

does that sentence consist of four letters of o[r|f] nine? – And what are its elements: the letter types or the letters? And isn't it

all the same
quite indifferent

which we say, if only we avoid misunderstandings? in the particular case??

(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.