The Representation of Language
-
Matthias Haase
Abstract
The contemporary debate on the metaphysics of language is dominated by two positions. According to the one, languages are not things in the world; they are abstract objects. According to the other, a language consists in the historical chain of causally interrelated acts and states of its speakers. The later Wittgenstein would reject both positions. A natural language is neither an abstract object nor a singular happening of any kind; it is something general that is actual or concrete. The difficulty to understand the peculiar kind of actuality of a language is, I argue, the source of the rule-following puzzle. Its solution consists in an investigation of the logical grammar of the statements with which speakers of a language describe their use of words.When we say what ‘we’ or ‘one’ says, the pronouns exhibit a kind genericity that cannot be treated within the quantificational model of generality.
Abstract
The contemporary debate on the metaphysics of language is dominated by two positions. According to the one, languages are not things in the world; they are abstract objects. According to the other, a language consists in the historical chain of causally interrelated acts and states of its speakers. The later Wittgenstein would reject both positions. A natural language is neither an abstract object nor a singular happening of any kind; it is something general that is actual or concrete. The difficulty to understand the peculiar kind of actuality of a language is, I argue, the source of the rule-following puzzle. Its solution consists in an investigation of the logical grammar of the statements with which speakers of a language describe their use of words.When we say what ‘we’ or ‘one’ says, the pronouns exhibit a kind genericity that cannot be treated within the quantificational model of generality.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Table of Contents V
- List of Abbreviations VII
- Introduction: The Form of Our Life with Language 1
-
Paths to Form(s) of Life
- The Rule of the Game (The Moment of Truth) 11
- Lebensformen: Living Logic 59
- Human Life and Self-consciousness. The Idea of ‘Our’ Form of Life in Hegel and Wittgenstein 93
- Duality, Force, Language-games and Our Form of Life 113
-
Form(s) of Life: the Very Idea
- Our Life with Truth 155
- Language-games, Lebensform, and the Ancient City 173
- Language-games and Forms of Life in Mathematics 193
- The Representation of Language 219
-
Form(s) of Life after Wittgenstein
- Wittgenstein and the Difficulty of What Normally Goes Without Saying 253
- Wittgenstein. Ordinary Language as Lifeform 277
- Hostage to a Stranger 305
- Biographical Notes 331
- Index 333
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Table of Contents V
- List of Abbreviations VII
- Introduction: The Form of Our Life with Language 1
-
Paths to Form(s) of Life
- The Rule of the Game (The Moment of Truth) 11
- Lebensformen: Living Logic 59
- Human Life and Self-consciousness. The Idea of ‘Our’ Form of Life in Hegel and Wittgenstein 93
- Duality, Force, Language-games and Our Form of Life 113
-
Form(s) of Life: the Very Idea
- Our Life with Truth 155
- Language-games, Lebensform, and the Ancient City 173
- Language-games and Forms of Life in Mathematics 193
- The Representation of Language 219
-
Form(s) of Life after Wittgenstein
- Wittgenstein and the Difficulty of What Normally Goes Without Saying 253
- Wittgenstein. Ordinary Language as Lifeform 277
- Hostage to a Stranger 305
- Biographical Notes 331
- Index 333
