Philosophical Investigations

Lore & Background

In its preface, Wittgenstein says that Philosophical Investigations can 'be seen in the right light only by contrast with and against the background of my older way of thinking.' Wittgenstein's biographer Ray Monk writes, 'This is partly because of the great differences between his early and late work, but also because of the equally important continuities between the two.' The early work in which Wittgenstein expressed his 'older way of thinking' is the only book Wittgenstein published in his lifetime, the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. The American philosopher Norman Malcolm credits Piero Sraffa with helping Wittgenstein's break away from the notion that a proposition must literally function as a picture of reality. Wittgenstein writes, 'I am indebted to this stimulus for the most consequential ideas in this book.' The book begins with a quotation from Johann Nestroy's play Der Schützling: 'The trouble about progress is that it always looks much greater than it really is.' Wittgenstein first mentions games in section 3 and develops this into the key notion of a language game. Wittgenstein's use of the term language game 'is meant to bring into prominence the fact that the speaking of language is part of an activity, or of a life-form.' A central feature of language games is that language is used in a context and cannot be understood outside of that context.

Reader's Guide

Philosophical Investigations is significant for its radical shift in Wittgenstein's philosophy, moving from the picture theory of meaning in the Tractatus to a view that meaning is use within language games. The work criticizes the Augustinian picture of language, where words name objects, and instead argues that the meaning of a word is its use in the language. Wittgenstein's concept of language games emphasizes that language is embedded in social activities and forms of life. The famous example of the word 'game' shows that no single definition covers all cases, yet we use the word successfully.

The work also addresses sentence meaning, arguing that a sentence like 'Moses did not exist' acquires significance only when used in a context. Wittgenstein's legacy includes influencing ordinary language philosophy and later analytic philosophy. The Investigations remains a central text for debates on meaning, rule-following, and the nature of philosophical problems.