Wittgenstein and Language
By the early 2oth c. philosophers were placing less importance on investigating reality, truth and morality and investigating instead the language with which we describe these things. Bertrand Russell had set new standards in logic and critical thinking, and his young student Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) took his work forward to new heights. Wittgenstein then spent years unpicking all he had created. His final view was that language is a social activity: words don’t just pick out bits of reality—they also bind people together. We play games with words, ‘language games’ in which we express different aspects of the common life we share with our fellows & learn from our elders.
This means we cannot do philosophy without understanding more about language and the social structures which it expresses. Catholic philosophy, for example, requires an understanding of the symbolic ‘games’ Catholics play with sacred words, the social meanings of our prayers and the drama of our tradition enacted particularly in our liturgies.
Wittgenstein is probably the most recent philosopher of true genius. Catholic philosophers now realise the importance of his work and Australian philosopher Archbishop Eric D’Arcy has recently argued theologians too should learn from his wisdom.
By the early 2oth c. philosophers were placing less importance on investigating reality, truth and morality and investigating instead the language with which we describe these things. Bertrand Russell had set new standards in logic and critical thinking, and his young student Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) took his work forward to new heights. Wittgenstein then spent years unpicking all he had created. His final view was that language is a social activity: words don’t just pick out bits of reality—they also bind people together. We play games with words, ‘language games’ in which we express different aspects of the common life we share with our fellows & learn from our elders.
This means we cannot do philosophy without understanding more about language and the social structures which it expresses. Catholic philosophy, for example, requires an understanding of the symbolic ‘games’ Catholics play with sacred words, the social meanings of our prayers and the drama of our tradition enacted particularly in our liturgies.
Wittgenstein is probably the most recent philosopher of true genius. Catholic philosophers now realise the importance of his work and Australian philosopher Archbishop Eric D’Arcy has recently argued theologians too should learn from his wisdom.
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