한
All perspectives

1945 and 1953

Later Wittgenstein — Words at work in activities

Can the meaning of the same word be explained only by pairing it with one object?

Ludwig WittgensteinPhilosophical Investigations

Evidence-backed account

The preface to Philosophical Investigations is dated Cambridge, January 1945, and the work was published posthumously in German and English by Basil Blackwell in Oxford in 1953.

Open evidence

This is an evidence-linked editorial paraphrase, not a direct quotation.

  • Philosophische Untersuchungen

    Ludwig Wittgenstein · German text reproducing Suhrkamp Werkausgabe 1 (1999), pages 231–485

    Locator: Preface: Cambridge, January 1945

    Open source

  • Philosophical Investigations

    Ludwig Wittgenstein · 1953 · Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1953; WorldCat record OCLC 301079

    Locator: Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1953

    Open source

  • Ludwig Wittgenstein

    Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

    Locator: Section 3.2

    Open source

Section 1 begins from a picture in which words name objects and sentences combine names, without endorsing it as the final account of all language.

Open evidence

This is an evidence-linked editorial paraphrase, not a direct quotation.

  • Philosophische Untersuchungen

    Ludwig Wittgenstein · German text reproducing Suhrkamp Werkausgabe 1 (1999), pages 231–485

    Locator: Section 1

    Open source

  • Ludwig Wittgenstein

    Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

    Locator: Sections 3.2–3.4

    Open source

The builder language in sections 2–3 works for a limited system joining names and actions but does not cover everything we call language.

Open evidence

This is an evidence-linked editorial paraphrase, not a direct quotation.

  • Philosophische Untersuchungen

    Ludwig Wittgenstein · German text reproducing Suhrkamp Werkausgabe 1 (1999), pages 231–485

    Locator: Sections 2–3

    Open source

  • Ludwig Wittgenstein

    Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

    Locator: Section 3.4

    Open source

Section 23 stresses the diversity of uses of words and sentences and treats speaking as part of an activity or form of life.

Open evidence

This is an evidence-linked editorial paraphrase, not a direct quotation.

  • Philosophische Untersuchungen

    Ludwig Wittgenstein · German text reproducing Suhrkamp Werkausgabe 1 (1999), pages 231–485

    Locator: Section 23

    Open source

Section 30 says that an ostensive definition can explain a use only when the role of the word in language is already sufficiently clear.

Open evidence

This is an evidence-linked editorial paraphrase, not a direct quotation.

  • Philosophische Untersuchungen

    Ludwig Wittgenstein · German text reproducing Suhrkamp Werkausgabe 1 (1999), pages 231–485

    Locator: Section 30

    Open source

Sections 42–44 compare ways in which a name whose bearer is absent or gone can still be used meaningfully within a particular language-game.

Open evidence

This is an evidence-linked editorial paraphrase, not a direct quotation.

  • Philosophische Untersuchungen

    Ludwig Wittgenstein · German text reproducing Suhrkamp Werkausgabe 1 (1999), pages 231–485

    Locator: Sections 42–44

    Open source

Section 43 explains the meaning of a word as its use in language for a large class of cases, while expressly not claiming this for every case.

Open evidence

This is an evidence-linked editorial paraphrase, not a direct quotation.

  • Philosophische Untersuchungen

    Ludwig Wittgenstein · German text reproducing Suhrkamp Werkausgabe 1 (1999), pages 231–485

    Locator: Section 43

    Open source
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