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    Wittgenstein Language Games

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    Dana Sandu
    Wittgenstein went through two phases in his thinking about language and its relationship to the world: an early picture theory phase and a later language games phase. In his early phase, he viewed language as representing facts about the world, but later criticized this view and argued that language takes many forms ("language games") depending on its context and use. He believed that to understand meaning, one must understand how language is being used within a particular language game or form of life. Religious language, for Wittgenstein, could only be understood from within the context of a believer's language game.

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    Wittgenstein Language Games

    Uploaded by

    Dana Sandu
    291 views9 pages
    Wittgenstein went through two phases in his thinking about language and its relationship to the world: an early picture theory phase and a later language games phase. In his early phase, he viewed language as representing facts about the world, but later criticized this view and argued that language takes many forms ("language games") depending on its context and use. He believed that to understand meaning, one must understand how language is being used within a particular language game or form of life. Religious language, for Wittgenstein, could only be understood from within the context of a believer's language game.

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    Wittgenstein went through two phases in his thinking about language and its relationship to the world: an early picture theory phase and a later language games phase. In his early phase, he viewed language as representing facts about the world, but later criticized this view and argued that language takes many forms ("language games") depending on its context and use. He believed that to understand meaning, one must understand how language is being used within a particular language game or form of life. Religious language, for Wittgenstein, could only be understood from within the context of a believer's language game.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    291 views9 pages

    Wittgenstein Language Games

    Uploaded by

    Dana Sandu
    Wittgenstein went through two phases in his thinking about language and its relationship to the world: an early picture theory phase and a later language games phase. In his early phase, he viewed language as representing facts about the world, but later criticized this view and argued that language takes many forms ("language games") depending on its context and use. He believed that to understand meaning, one must understand how language is being used within a particular language game or form of life. Religious language, for Wittgenstein, could only be understood from within the context of a believer's language game.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
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    Wittgenstein's early view was the picture theory which saw language as representing facts, while his later view was that language is used in different contexts or 'language games' and meaning depends on use and context. He also viewed religious language from an anti-realist perspective.

    Wittgenstein's early view was the picture theory which saw language as representing facts in the world. His later view was that language is used in different contexts or 'language games' and the meaning depends on the specific use and context of the language.

    Wittgenstein viewed religious language from believers as a language game, where believers understand statements within the context of their faith. To understand religious language, one must participate in the language game or 'form of life' of the believer. He also took an anti-realist view that what is meaningful is 'true for me'.

    Ludwig Wittgenstein

    EARLY: PICTURE
    THEORY

    LATER: LANGUAGE
    GAMES

    Early: Picture Theory (Logical


    Positivist view)
    Language corresponds to a state of
    affairs in the world
    Language can only be meaningful if it
    used in relation to what we see in the
    world
    Language is a way of representing facts
    The cat is on the mat

    Later: Language Games


    Criticised Vienna Circle our language
    is far richer & more diverse than LP
    allow
    Multiplicity of language:
    Give orders, tell jokes, describe, report,
    ask, thank, curse, greet, pray etc

    If we want to know the meaning of the


    language, we need to know how it is
    being used meaning is use

    The context of language


    Language activity is governed by
    certain rules according to the
    context in which it is used.
    One use of a particular word is not
    better than another
    Language is meaningful if it is
    understood in the correct context
    The mistake made by Ayer etc is to
    treat all language as if it was all part
    of the same game.

    TRY

    DRIBBLE

    DRAW

    Religious Language
    Believers are all players of the same
    game
    They use the same language in the
    same context
    They understand the context in which
    the language is used
    To understand it, we must also play the
    game be in that particular form of
    life.

    Meaning of Language

    God Exists
    Wittgenstein recognises the meaning behind this
    statement.
    To a religious believer this statement means more than
    there is a god.
    It is a positive affirmation that they are entering into a
    life of faith.
    When a religious believer makes this statement, they are
    confirming their belief in God as a reality in their life a
    declaration of faith
    Unless you are a believer, you cannot understand what
    this means.

    Anti Realism
    Wittgensteins approach to language is
    Anti-Realist.
    What is meaningful is what is true for
    me
    Whether God does or does not have
    external reality does not matter
    Religious faith is an affirmative decision
    to enter the game & therefore find
    meaning in the language that is used
    accordingly
    Truth is relative

    Wittgenstein
    1. What is a language game?
    2. What do you think is meant by
    criteria of coherence?
    3. What does he mean by making a
    category mistake?
    4. In what sense is Wittgensteins
    approach Anti-Realist?
    5. Is Language Game Theory a useful
    approach to talking about God?
    Refer to some of the key strengths &
    weaknesses.

    Evaluating Language Games


    STRENGTHS:
    It highlights the noncognitive nature of
    religious language
    It distinguishes it from
    other forms of
    language
    It provides boundaries
    for the uses of
    language
    Statements are judged
    within their context
    they are not inherently
    true or false

    WEAKNESSES:
    Believers claims
    cannot be
    empirically tested
    It alienates people
    not initiated into the
    rules of the game
    Religious statements
    do aim to correspond
    with reality God,
    Judgement & Afterlife
    are real to a believer,
    they are not simply
    ideas.

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