Philosophy › The 20th century › Ludwig Wittgenstein
Philosophical Investigations and language games
1953· Book or text· Knowledge, logic & science
Well documentedSolid records, texts or physical evidence.
Wittgenstein's posthumous book arguing that a word's meaning is its use within shared human activities, which he called 'language games'.
See it on the Philosophy map →The idea
Idea: words are tools, not labels; 'the meaning of a word is its use in the language.' The book opens with builders calling 'Slab!' and 'Pillar!', a complete little language game. A word like 'game' has no single shared essence, only overlapping 'family resemblances'. The private language argument says a language only one person could understand, naming inner sensations, is impossible: rules need public checks. Main objection: critics say it describes language without explaining it, and waves away real problems as confusions.
Why it matters
It turned philosophy toward ordinary language, shaped Oxford philosophy and the social sciences, and replaced the Tractatus' idea that language mirrors facts.
Where it comes from
Published in 1953, two years after his death, edited by his students G. E. M. Anscombe and Rush Rhees, with her English translation. His drafts and dictated lecture notes (the Blue and Brown Books) survive.
Still debated
What the private language argument actually proves, and whether Wittgenstein held any positive theory at all, are long-running debates; Saul Kripke's 1982 reading is much contested.
Connections (2)
▸Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote Philosophical Investigations and language gamesWell documented
The connection
After returning to Cambridge in 1929, Wittgenstein spent two decades reworking his ideas in lectures and notebooks. The Investigations, written as numbered remarks, gathered this later thinking: meaning as use, language games and family resemblance. He prepared Part I for publication but did not live to see it printed.
When and how
Written mainly in Cambridge, Norway and Ireland, about 1936–1949; published by Blackwell in 1953, two years after his death.
How we know
His manuscripts and typescripts survive and are now digitized; his students G. E. M. Anscombe and Rush Rhees edited the book with a facing English translation.
Debates and open questions
The so-called 'Part II' was assembled by the editors; since 2009 it is printed as a separate work, 'Philosophy of Psychology – A Fragment', since he may not have meant it to belong.
▸Philosophical Investigations and language games rejected the picture theory of Tractatus Logico-PhilosophicusWell documented
The connection
The Tractatus said sentences mirror facts, like pictures. The Investigations rejects this: language has countless uses, such as giving orders, telling jokes or praying, and few work by picturing. Wittgenstein even wanted the two books printed together, so readers could see the new thinking against the old.
When and how
In the 1945 preface Wittgenstein wrote that he had 'been forced to recognize grave mistakes' in his first book; section 23 lists many language games.
How we know
The preface and many sections directly criticize the Tractatus, including its 'simple objects' (sections 46–48).
Debates and open questions
Scholars debate how sharp the break was: 'New Wittgensteinians' see continuity, both books aiming to cure philosophical confusion rather than offer theories.