This paperinvestigatesWittgenstein'saccount of the relationbetween elementarya nd molecular propositions( andt hus,a lso, the propositions of logic) in the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus.Istartb y sketchinganatural readingofthat relation -which Icallthe "bipartite reading" -holding that the Tractatus givesa na ccount of elementary propositions, basedo nt he so-called picture theory,a nd a different account of molecular ones, basedo nt he principleo ft ruthfunctionality.It hen show that such ar eading cannotb ea ttributedt o Wittgenstein, becauseh eholds thev iewt hatane xplanation of logical complexity is alreadyg iven by ac orrect account of the (pictorial) nature of elementary propositions;thisisimpliedinhis claim that "an elementaryp roposition contains alll ogical constants/operationsi n itself". Afterclarifying Wittgenstein'snotionofanoperation from the NotesonLogic to the Tractatus,Ifinally explainwhy Wittgensteinclaims thata ne lementary proposition contains all logical operations in itself, andh encew hy he canb es aidt op rovide au nified (and thus not bipartite) accountoflanguage andlogic.
1. The "Bipartite Reading" andthe internalunity of language and logic
The Tractatus'a ccounto fp ropositionsi nt erms of pictures, as is wellr ecognised, directly applies only to what Wittgensteinc alls elementary propositions; an elementaryp roposition -t he "simplest