12/12/2015

ThreeStrawMen:J:ThereisnothinghidingbehindthePleasantPineapple
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ThreeStrawMen
Justthreefansofdrunkenphilosophyargumentsthatgetnowhere.FromwhyMoorewasatwattoHakunaMatata,
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Tuesday,31July2012

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J:ThereisnothinghidingbehindthePleasantPineapple

2013(3)

ThefollowingismyattemptatasummarisationandreworkingofthelaterLudwig

2012(21)
October(3)

Wittgenstein'swritingsonuseandmeaning,fromwhichIhopetouseitasabaseinposts

September(3)

tocome.Itdoesnotcovereverything,itdoesnotevenholdthetruepowerofthe

August(12)

PhilosophicalInvestiagationstheinvestigationofmanycasesofuse,notingeneralisation

July(3)

anddefinitions.Thatcannotbesummarisedorcontainedhereoranywhereexceptthebook
itself.
InthelanguagegameofthisessaythemeaningofthequotefromWittgenstein'sPhilosophical
Investigations(PI)Foralargeclassofcasesthoughnotforallinwhichweemploytheword
meaningitcanbedefinedthus:themeaningofawordisitsuseinthelanguage.(PI,I,43)will
beinitsuseastheWittgensteinianbasefromwhichIwilltrytodefineausetheoryofmeaning,
withthehelpofthePI.Tobeclear,everymentionofWittgensteinhereafterisofthelater
Wittgenstein.IamnottryingtointerpretthePIinawayWittgensteinwouldapproveof,noramI
attemptingmyown'Kripkenstein',byallaccountsbothofthesearefarbeyondthescopeofthis
essay.Iammerelyinneedofamoregeneralisedconceptinordertoexamineinmoredetailthe
commonandseeminglydamningobjectionofnovelsentences.Oncesodefined,wecanthen
lookandsee(PI,I,66)butalsothinkaboutresponsesfortheWittgensteinianbasedusetheorist.
Arethereanyroutesofescape?Whatwould'bitingthebullet'entail?Doestheobjectionleavesno
viablewaytokeepthetheory?
Theusetheoryofmeaningisanalternativetoagroupoftheoriesaboutmeaningthat
couldberoughlycalledrealist.Thesetheoriesattempttoexplainhowwordshavemeaningby
sayingtheyaregivenitbysomething,beitdescription,reference,proposition...etc.Onecould
http://threestrawmen.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/jthereisnothinghidingbehind.html

J:Thereisnothinghidingbehindthe
PleasantPin...
M:Ourknowledgecanonlybefinite,
whileourign...
Ifalioncouldtalk,wecouldnot
understandhim....

Contributors

Jono
Manning
J
StrawMan
M

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ThreeStrawMen:J:ThereisnothinghidingbehindthePleasantPineapple

say(again,roughly)thattheyareattemptingtoconnectlanguagewiththeworld,andthisrelation
iswhatgivesmeaning.Itisthepositofthisrelationthatcausesalotoftrouble,aswellasthe
moreinternalproblemsofindividualrealisttheories.Theusetheorywasabreathoffresh,anti
realistairinthe20thcentury.Antirealisttheoriesofmeaningsaythisrelationbetweenwordand
worlddoesn'taccountformeaning,andinsteadlooksathowlanguageinteractswithitselfto
explainit.Languageissomethingpeopledo(Lycan,p.78),andthewaysinwhichpeopleuse
languagecannotbesoeasilycategorisedandlabelledintothingslikeassertion,questionand
command,asperhapsFregethought(Stanford,Wittgensteinsection3.3).
'Language'isbestdescribedintheusetheoryaslinguisticexpression,ratherthan
utterances,sentences,words...etc.'Linguisticexpression'hitstherightintuitivenoteabout
languageasanactivity,ratherthansomethingabstract.Theusetheoristsaystherealistis
confusedintryingtolocatethemeaningwithinalinguisticexpressionitdoesn'texistinthat
sense.Meaningisauxiliarytotheexpression,grantedbypeopleiftheexpressionisused
correctly.'Correctandincorrect'arenotbeingusedinanysensethatrelatestotruthandfalsity,
butmerelyintheweakersensethatthecommunityacceptsordeniestheexpressionmeaning.
Thisexplanationneedssomeclarificationtobeunderstoodintherightway.Ifweunderstand
linguisticexpressionasasortofsocialbehaviour,somethingpeopledo,itisobviouspeopledoit
indifferentways,dependingonhowyouweretaught.Thisdoesnotmeansomeisrightandsome
iswrong,butthatmeaningisdependentonuseintherightwayintherightcircumstances.Wewill
usetheterm'community'todescribeagroupthatuseslanguageinthesameway.Irealisethisis
vague,andwillbeaddressedshortly.
Wewillusetheterm'rule'toexplainsimilaritiesinhowlanguageisusedwithina
community.Wittgensteinrefusestodefine'rule'intermsofitsnature,butitsuseisclear.Whena
linguisticexpressionfollowsarule,itissaidtobeusedcorrectly,andthereforetohavemeaning.
Everconsistent,itseemsalwaystobetheuseofthingsthatinterestWittgenstein,notthethings
themselves.Russell,Ayer,andsoon,includingtheauthoroftheTractatusLogicoPhilosophicus
lookedintothewordsformeaning,butasimple,elementalformcouldneveraccommodatethe
varietyandmultitudeofusesoftheword.Hisdefinitionsarearethusintentionallyvague,whilehis
repeatedusesintheexamplesofthePIareenlighteningandclarifyinguponinvestigation.Itis
thisshiftthatmakesthePIsoirreducible.
Tolearnwhatisexpectedfromwhatisunexpected,giventhecircumstancesistolearn
therule.Oneneednotthinkoftheruleinitselftoknowthis.Toclarifyfurther,rulesarenot
abstractthingsthatgivemeaning.Thecommunityagrees(consciouslyorotherwise)ontherules.
Wehavethusfarbeenusingtheterms'linguisticexpression','community','rules'withoutaclear
ideaofwhatcountsandwhatdoesn't.Thereasonisbecauseantirealisttheoriesoflanguage
havetotakelanguageasitisandcannotpositthingstosumupcommonelements.Sotohelp
grasptheideas,theanalogyof'languagegames'ishelpful.
Aparticularcommunitycanbeviewedastheplayersofaparticularlanguagegame.
Withinthegametheplayersuselinguisticexpressionsas'moves'thatarecommunally/publicly
determinedtobecorrectorincorrectaccordingtothe'rules'.Thisanalogyisparticularlypowerful
inlinkinglinguisticexpressionwithnonlinguisticcontext,suchthattheformerhasnomeaning
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ThreeStrawMen:J:ThereisnothinghidingbehindthePleasantPineapple

outsideofthelatter.(Kenny,Wittgenstein,p14)
Wittgensteinrefusestodefinewhatdoesn'tcountasagameorrule.Hethinkstodosowouldbe
todrawboundariesonthewordwhichdonotexistandweren'tneededuntilwedrewthemof
coursewecandrawasharpboundaryifwewish,inthesamewayapacecanbestandardisedas
75cm.butthatdoesnotmeanthenonstandardisedconceptisunusable(PG113PI,I,69)(
Kenny,Wittgenstein,p168).Itisthereforeamistaketothinkof'rules'and'games'asalwayslike
theexampleofchess.Tocomparelanguagesolelytosuchagamewouldbesomethingofastraw
man.Theclassicexampleheusesofabuilderslanguagegameisnotmeanttosummarisethe
essenceofhowweuselanguage,buttobeusedas'objectsofcomparisontohelpussee
similaritiesanddissimilarities'(PI,I,130).
Thebuilderslanguagegamehastwoplayers,thebuilderA,andtheassistantB.There
arefourwordsAcansay:block,pillar,slab,beam.Foreachword,theiruseinthisgameisforB
tobringthebuilderthestoneAcalledout.Inthisgame,itisclearwhatAmeansincallingout
slabisnotthereferentof'slab',northedefinition.ItisalsoeasytoseeherehowBcan'use'the
callcorrectlyorincorrectlywithoutactuallyhavingtolinguisticallyexpressanything.Hecanfollow
theruletobringthebuilderaslabwithoutsayingthewordslabatall.
Thequestionwhatisthetime?issimple,butwhatistime?isanincredibly
complicatedphilosophicalproblem.Thisisbecausewethinkof'time'asanameforathing,and
thensetaboutanalysingandconsideringit,withoutrealisingourmistake.Icanthinkofnobetter
waytoputitthanWittgensteindoesinthefollowing:
Iwanttorestricttheterm'name'towhatcanoccurinthecombination'Xexists'.Thusone
cannotsay'redexists',becauseiftherewerenoreditcouldnotbespokenofatall.Better:IfX
existsismeantsimplytosayXhasameaning,thenitisnotapropositionwhichtreatsofX,
butapropositionaboutouruseoflanguage,thatis,abouttheuseofthewordX.(PI,I,58)
Wecannotseethewholeworldclearybecausewecannotgetoutsidetheworldtotakeapicture
ofit.likewisewecannotseeclearlyintolanguageatthemetaphysicalrelationsbehindourwords.
allwecanseeclearlyoflanguageisthewayitworks.Thisistheonlystudyorphilosophyof
languagethereis,andinthisrealisation,thequestionsofrelationstotheworlddissapear,andthis
itselfistheanswer.Torealisethatthereisnothinghidingbehindthewords"thisisaverypleasant
pineapple",thattheclear,externalusesofthewordsisallthereistothem,istoshowtheflythe
wayoutoftheflybottle.
J

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