LUDWIG JOSEF JOHANN WITTGENSTEIN (26 APRIL 1889 – 29 APRIL 1951)

Wittgenstein’s PHILOSOPHICAL INVESTIGATIONS

with commentaries of William Brenner

Words as Pointing Fingers (Sections 1-5)

Augustine had “the idea of language more primitive than ours” : Naming (every word has a meaning, it stands for a particular object)

Words are more than just names, there are variety of ways in which we operate with words:

The Builder’s LanguageThe Shopping LanguageLanguage functions as a tool.

Instruction in primitive forms of language consists in training, this is the “bedrock” on which more sophisticated forms of language can be built up.

The shopper and shopkeeper learned a series of number by rote, colors by instruction, as well as a variety of fruits.

“This is simply what I do.”

1, 2, 3, 4….

Ostensive Teaching (Sections 6-7)

Language would have to be learned by “ostension” (pointing).

Ostensive teaching is training for the practice of the use of language.

“The children are brought up to perform these actions, to use these words as they do so, and to react in this way to the words of others.”

“The Language-Games”

One calls out the words, the other acts on them.

The teacher names the objects while pointing to it and the pupil repeats the words after the teacher

“…the whole, consisting of language and the actions into which it is woven.”

Words as Tools (Section 10-17)

“Think of the tools in a tool-box: there is a hammer, pliers, a saw, a screw-driver, a rule, a glue-pot, glue, nails and screws.—The functions of words are as diverse as the functions of these objects.”

Nothing would be gained by saying that all words have the same function, “to signify something.”

Life in the City of Language (Sections 18-24)

“Our language can be seen as an ancient city: a maze of little streets and squares, of old and new houses, and of houses with additions from various periods; and this surrounded by a multitude of new boroughs with regular streets and uniform houses.”

Learning a language is learning a form of life.

Language is inseparable from activities (e.g. commanding, greeting, recounting, asking, etc.). As we learn to participate in these activities, we learn our native language; as we learn our native language, we learn not only forms of words but forms of life.

Mano Po: “pagmamano” “opo” “matanda” “respeto” “bata” “mabait” “masaya” “maipagmamalaki” “pagmamahal” “pagpapahalaga”

Learning a language is being initiated into human life.

The speaking (“the practice of the use of language”) is “part of an activity, or of a form of life”

There is no fixed, closed list of language games

Language is an enormous fabric of activities that involve the use of words, sentences, and other symbols

Talking and Thinking (Sec. 25)

Language is founded on thought.

But there is a primitive language resulting from primitive thinking.

The builder’s assistant thinks when he obeys a command, he does not just do what he was trained to do. Since, he may or may not always do what he was trained to do.