Language Games

Who created the idea of Language Games?

Wittgenstein

What does Wittgenstein suggest that the aim of philosophy should be focused on?

Language - in order to save the problems of misunderstandings

• “Don’t ask for the meaning, ask for the use”

• Meaning of words are not rigid or fixed - importance is how the word is used

Use of language helps us to create our perspective of the world

What is the argument regarding Language Games?

Language is like playing a game with rules

What does Wittgenstein say about Language Games?

• within our communities we have agreed rules on how words are used

• Wittgenstein observes that religious language and the language of different religious groups is in itself an entirely different language game

What does Wittgenstein use the Problem of Evil to describe Language Games?

• if we were to say ‘God allows suffering to develop our character and we will be rewarded in heaven’ - cannot say that the statement is true in a literal sense, but it fits within a Christian interpretation of the world

• It is not a statement that fits within the Atheistic or Hindu language games, for instance

• to suggest that the best explanation of evil is that God does not exist would not fit within the rules of the games (like a swimmer choosing to use a boat)

What does Wittgenstein conclude about Religious Language?

For religious statements, there is not a difference of opinion where one viewpoint is right and one is wrong

• two different ways of seeing

What quote is Wittgenstein famously known for saying?

“Where one cannot speak, one should remain silent”

What are the strengths of Wittgenstein’s Language Games?

• recognises that religious and scientific statements are two different types of things - should be treated differently

• meaning is not fixed - changed with use and context

• recognises groundless beliefs; cannot necessarily provide reasons for them, yet they shape our world

How would scholars similar to Flew and Mitchell criticise Wittgenstein’s Language Games?

Believers may reject the idea that religious statements only have meaning to the individual

• see their claims are universal truths - believe themselves to be making cognitive statements

Why is Wittgenstein’s Language Games criticised as being circular?

Language game gives words their meaning - yet the game itself is just a collection of words

How does Gellner criticise Wittgeinstein?

Wittgenstein over-analyses language

• he “takes apart a perfectly working clock and then wonders why it doesn’t work”