Wittgenstein’s Later View in Philosophical Investigations
This discussion examines the development of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s later philosophy, particularly as presented in his posthumously published work Philosophical Investigations. Moving away from the logical and pictorial conception of language developed in the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, Wittgenstein gradually recognised that language cannot be understood through a single underlying logical structure. Instead, language must be examined in terms of its actual use in different contexts of human life. His later philosophy challenges the assumption that the grammatical form of a sentence necessarily determines its meaning or function. Through the distinction between surface grammar and depth grammar, he demonstrates that the same grammatical expression may serve different purposes depending on the context in which it is used. His examples illustrate that an utterance may function as an assertion, command, request, speculation, or other form of linguistic activity. The concept of language-game occupies a central position in this later philosophical approach. It emphasises that speaking a language is not merely a matter of producing words and sentences but is an activity integrated into human practices and forms of life. Language consists of numerous and diverse language-games, which may overlap, interact, develop, or become obsolete over time. Wittgenstein further challenges the traditional philosophical assumption that all things belonging to a particular category must possess a common defining property. Through his concept of family resemblance, he explains that different language-games, like different kinds of games, are connected through overlapping and criss-crossing similarities rather than through one essential feature shared by all. Thus, his later philosophy replaces the search for a universal logical essence of language with an examination of its diverse, dynamic, and context-dependent uses. It offers a new philosophical perspective in which meaning is understood through the practical activities and forms of life within which language operates. In Wittgenstein’s later philosophy so many concepts are there, which are related to his concept of Language-games; like- forms of life, use theory, private language, speech-act activity etc. Here I will explain only language game and how Family resemblance is related with it.