(Thus it was possible for Frege to call the proposition a compounded name.)
The mutual spatial position of these things then expresses the sense of the proposition.
We must not say, “The complex sign ‘ a R b ’ says ‘ a stands in relation R to b ’ ”; but we must say, “ That ‘ a ’ stands in a certain relation to ‘ b ’ says that a R b ”.
States of affairs can be described but not named .
(Names resemble points; propositions resemble arrows, they have sense.)
In propositions thoughts can be so expressed that to the objects of the thoughts correspond the elements of the propositional sign.
These elements I call “simple signs” and the proposition “completely analysed.”
The simple signs employed in propositions are called names.