Quotations
From Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical
Investigations
- "The best that I could write would never be more than philosophical
remarks; my thoughts were soon crippled if I tried to force them on in
any single direction against their natural inclination.---And this was,
of course, connected with the very nature of the investigation. For
this compels us to travel over a wide field of thought criss-cross in
every direction.---The philosophical remarks in this book are, as it
were, a number of sketches of landscapes which were made in the course
of these long and involved journeyings." (PI, pg. v)
- "I shall also call the whole, consisting of language and the actions
into which it is woven, the language game." (PI, 7)
- "The term language game is meant to bring into prominence
the fact that the speaking of a language is part of an
activity, or a form of life." (PI, 23)
- "For a large class of cases ... the meaning of a word is its use in
the language." (PI, 43)
- "The result of this examination is: we see a complicated network of
similarities overlapping and criss-crossing: sometimes overall
similarities, sometimes similarities of detail. I can think of no
better expression to characterize these similarities than family
resemblances." (PI, 66-67)
- "The common behavior of humankind is the system of reference by
which we interpret an unknown language." (PI, 206)
- "This language like any other is founded on convention."
(PI,355)
- "The game has not only rules but also a point."
(PI, 567)
- "Here it is difficult to see that what is at issue is the
fixing of concepts." (PI, p. 204)
- "Compare a concept with a style of painting. For is even our style
of painting arbitrary? Can we choose one at pleasure? Is it a mere
question of pleasing and ugly?" (PI, p. 230)
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Class notes for Religion W4620
(Nonduality in Indian and Tibetan Thought),
Fall 2002.
Last updated: Fri Aug 30 20:46:14 EDT 2002
by Gary Tubb,
email [email protected]