Abstract

The aim of this paper is to show how the symbolic value of language is transformed from the Tractatus up to the latter Wittgensteinian texts. We begin with the relationship between Frege's conception about Sinn and Bedeutung, comparing these concepts with Wittgenstein's points of view in the Tractatus. Secondly, we criticize the possibilities of a formal ontology and we analyse the connextions between sign (Zeicheri), symbol and simile (Gleichnis) remarking how symbolic language must find its foundations in a «picture theory». Then, we show the importance of the simile to understand the new symbolism of the second Wittgenstein, namely starting with the «Lecture on Ethics». Finally, we conclude asserting that: in Wittgenstein's philosophy, that what is reduced to a mere logical level in Tractatus y is now enlarged in order to point out the polysemic value of all the possible languages.