But what are the simple
components || elements of
which reality is made
up || composed? –
What are the simple
components || elements of a
chair? –
The pieces of wood out of which it is put
together?
Or the molecules?
Or the electrons?
“Simple” means: not
composite || complex.
And
then || thus
it all depends on: in what sense
“composite || complex”?
It is senseless || makes no sense
to talk about the “simple components of a chair”
without qualification.
Or: Does my visual
image || sense datum || the
visual appearance I get of this tree, or
of this chair, consist of parts?
and || And
what are its simple components?
Being of different colours is one || a kind of
complexity; another is, for
instance || e.g., the
composition of this broken
contour || line
) out of straight
bits.
And you might || may
call
this
curve a complex || a curve compound
of || say that this curve
was made up of an
ascending and a descending
part || branch. If I say to someone without further explanation, || : “What I now see before me is complex”, then he will ¤ quite correct || right in asking, || rightly ask you: “What do you mean by ‘complex’? That || This can || may mean all sorts of things.” – The question, “Is what you see complex?”, does have meaning if it is already clear what sort of complexity – i.e., what particular kind of use of this word – is supposed to be in question || we are referring to || is in question. If it had been settled || laid down, for instance || e.g., that the visual image || appearance of a tree shall || is to be called complex if you see not only a trunk but also branches, then the question, “Is the visual appearance of this tree simple or complex?”, and the question, “What are its simple components?”, would have a clear use || sense, a clear use. And the answer to the second question, of course, || is, of course, not, “The || : “the branches” (this would be an answer to the grammatical question “What does one call ‘simple components’ here || do you call here ‘simple components’?”) but rather a description of the individual branches. |