Later Wittgenstein — Words at work in activities
The question that opens it
Can the meaning of the same word be explained only by pairing it with one object?
- 1
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.
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Philosophische Untersuchungen
Ludwig Wittgenstein · German text reproducing Suhrkamp Werkausgabe 1 (1999), pages 231–485
Locator: Preface: Cambridge, January 1945
Open sourcePhilosophical Investigations
Ludwig Wittgenstein · 1953 · Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1953; WorldCat record OCLC 301079
Locator: Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1953
Open sourceLudwig Wittgenstein
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Locator: Section 3.2
Open source
- 2
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.
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Philosophische Untersuchungen
Ludwig Wittgenstein · German text reproducing Suhrkamp Werkausgabe 1 (1999), pages 231–485
Locator: Section 1
Open sourceLudwig Wittgenstein
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Locator: Sections 3.2–3.4
Open source
- 3
The builder language in sections 2–3 works for a limited system joining names and actions but does not cover everything we call language.
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Philosophische Untersuchungen
Ludwig Wittgenstein · German text reproducing Suhrkamp Werkausgabe 1 (1999), pages 231–485
Locator: Sections 2–3
Open sourceLudwig Wittgenstein
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Locator: Section 3.4
Open source
- 4
Section 23 stresses the diversity of uses of words and sentences and treats speaking as part of an activity or form of life.
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Philosophische Untersuchungen
Ludwig Wittgenstein · German text reproducing Suhrkamp Werkausgabe 1 (1999), pages 231–485
Locator: Section 23
Open source
- 5
Section 30 says that an ostensive definition can explain a use only when the role of the word in language is already sufficiently clear.
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Philosophische Untersuchungen
Ludwig Wittgenstein · German text reproducing Suhrkamp Werkausgabe 1 (1999), pages 231–485
Locator: Section 30
Open source
- 6
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.
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Philosophische Untersuchungen
Ludwig Wittgenstein · German text reproducing Suhrkamp Werkausgabe 1 (1999), pages 231–485
Locator: Sections 42–44
Open source
- 7
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.
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This is an evidence-linked editorial account, not a direct quotation.
Philosophische Untersuchungen
Ludwig Wittgenstein · German text reproducing Suhrkamp Werkausgabe 1 (1999), pages 231–485
Locator: Section 43
Open source