Deck 26: Ludwig Wittgenstein: Linguistic Analysis and Ordinary Language

Question 1

Philosophers such as Ryle and Austin advocate close attention to what we ordinarily say, and when, because

A) people ordinarily tell the truth.
B) ordinary language has stood up to the test of the survival of the fittest.
C) Plato and Aristotle and Kant are too difficult for most people.
D) ordinary language is quite precise, unlike the confusing language of the philosophers.

Answer 1

ordinary language has stood up to the test of the survival of the fittest.

Question 2

Wittgenstein now says that philosophical problems

A) are deep, important, and real.
B) can be solved if we bring to bear all we have learned from the previous history of philosophy.
C) can be solved if we make use of the resources of modern science.
D) are like a disease.

Answer 2

are like a disease.

Question 3

What does the philosopher do, according to the later Wittgenstein?

A) Entices the fly into the fly bottle.
B) Assembles reminders.
C) Explains and deduces the answers to deep and serious questions.
D) Changes everything.

Answer 3

Assembles reminders.

Question 4

Language-games show us

A) that all words signify something.
B) the essence of language.
C) how language is used in those practices where it has a home.
D) that there are three basic kinds of sentences: Assertion, question, and command.

Question 5

Ostensive definitions, such as saying "spoon" while pointing to a spoon,

A) are what allow children to enter the language-game of adults.
B) give the word-world connections that supply basic terms with their meaning.
C) are shown to be fundamental in language, contrary to the doctrine of the Tractatus.
D) can be variously interpreted in every case.

Question 6

With the notion of family resemblances, Wittgenstein

A) shows us that many of our concepts are not bounded by strict rules.
B) explains what causes parents and children to look alike.
C) indicates that every word expresses the essence of what it is about.
D) means to say that his book is like a photo album.

Question 7

Early and late, Wittgenstein aims to

A) do metaphysics with more precision than anyone has ever done before.
B) improve on the way we normally speak.
C) give philosophy peace.
D) construct a philosophical theory of language.

Question 8

When we obey a rule,

A) we should always consider what reasons there are for obeying it.
B) that is something we could do once, and all alone, without anyone else even being capable of understanding what it is we are doing.
C) we always have to decide what the rule means.
D) we obey it blindly.

Question 9

When Wittgenstein says, "My spade is turned," he means that

A) justifications have an end.
B) a conviction of his has been refuted.
C) he was thinking in one way, and he now sees that he must think in another way.
D) nothing is ever certain for us.

Question 10

With respect to the claim "There exists a living human body that is my body," Wittgenstein says

A) if I don't know that, I don't know anything.
B) I know that with certainty.
C) it is part of the inherited background against which I distinguish between true and false.
D) we should doubt even that.

Question 11

When language-games are being played that manifest different world-pictures

A) person in one game can give good reasons for the other to change her picture.
B) each should check out his or her world-picture, to be assured of its accuracy.
C) at least one of them must be mistaken.
D) the participants can engage in persuasion, but not reason-giving.

Question 12

In the Tractatus, Wittgenstein thought he had identified the essence of language: picturing. What does he now say about this?

Question 13

In the Tractatus, Wittgenstein identified the basic unit of language as a name and said that a name stood for a simple object. What does he say now about this?

Question 14

In the Tractatus, Wittgenstein claimed that language was susceptible to a complete, exact analysis, using logic as the tool. What does he say now about this?

Question 15

What is a language-game? And why is the study of language-games useful?

Question 16

What does Wittgenstein understand by the term "family resemblances"?

Question 17

What does the phrase "This is simply what I do" mean for Wittgenstein?

Question 18

In what sense do we obey rules blindly?

Question 19

What does it mean to say that our believing is groundless?

Question 20

What are philosophical problems like, according to the later Wittgenstein?

Question 21

What is the nature of philosophy, according to the later Wittgenstein?

Question 22

Compare the similarities and differences in Wittgenstein's treatment of language in the Tractatus and in the Investigations.

Question 23

Suppose that Wittgenstein is right about what philosophy can and cannot do. What does this mean for philosophy as rationalists, empiricists, and idealists have practiced it for centuries?

Question 24

When he ends by saying, "This is simply what I do," is Wittgenstein giving up on the quest for wisdom, or is he trying to reconceive what wisdom consists in? Explain.