Abstract

In 4.062 of the Tractatus, Wittgenstein repudiates the possibility of “mak[ing] ourselves understood with false propositions just as we have done up until now with true ones”. This chapter challenges this claim by distinguishing two possible cases in which people communicate truth-apt information through false propositions. The first case presents a semantic option, where false propositions become true “construed in the new way” while people aim at conveying truths, whereas the second case presents a pragmatic option, where false propositions remain false while people aim at falsehoods. Wittgenstein’s conclusion applies to the semantic, but not to the pragmatic option. The possibility of falsity-directed communication enables us to reconstruct Dummett’s argument from his analogy between truth and winning, which refutes alethic deflationism. Finally, the chapter reconciles the debate.