Language Game (Position Paper)

Position Paper - Language Game

 

    Affirming Ludwig Wittgenstain’s concept of language game and Paul Grice’s cooperative principle and its maxims.

    The 20th-century analytical philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein made several claims in Philosophical Investigations noteworthy contributions to the field of language philosophy. According to him, comprehending a sentence comprises having language proficiency, which requires having mastered a particular skill (Wittgenstein, 1958). After that, being a method master suggests that you understand the "form of life" that the method is based on, individuals who think that Ludwig Wittgenstein rejected the notion of pure logic after reading Philosophical Investigations beneath the words. He created the idea of "language games," where specific sentences could be utilized in particular situations according to what he considers to be the participation rules.

    For the later Wittgenstein, the question of meaning was central to his thinking. He asserts that when people can agree on the proper usage of words and sentences, communication can take place. One definition of "meaning" according to this: "A word's meaning is determined by its usage in the language" (Kenny, 1973, p.122). There are many different types and sizes of language games. It includes every word in the language as well as the actions that users take while utilizing it. There is enough language to support a broad range of types of games.

     Wittgenstein used a game example to show that games have rules. In other words, we behave a certain manner during games to prevent losing or getting eliminated for choosing different options. This implies that in order for us to interact with one another and avoid coming out as ordinary people, we must only use certain words in certain contexts while using language. In our encounters with others, we learn to play the games that language offers and to abide by its rules and regulations. Wittgenstein seems, therefore, to have given us a framework for considering language. The meaning of words should be employed in accordance with their context.

     Hence, Wittgenstein challenges his earlier conception of language in the Philosophical Investigations, coming to view it as a system of tools for participating in diverse social activities rather than as a system of representation; consequently, "the meaning of the word is its use in the language."

     This is what Paul Grice improved, as he posited in his conversational maxims (i.e., Quality, Quantity, Relevance, Manner) to get the objective meaning of the word/s, following the ‘Cooperative Principle’.

     I have seen that Wittgensein’s and Grice’s ideas have the sense of parallelism. For Wittgeinstein, he asserts that in order to make things meaningful, it demands particular rules to follow and enter the world of game. Similar to Grice notion, he posits the “Cooperative Principle'' and its subsequent maxims so that effective communication is possible. The Cooperative Principle and the Maxims of Quantity, Quality, Relation, and Manner guides the participants in a conversation to make their conversational contributions informative, true, relevant, and clear. Thus, creating a comprehensible concept of both ideas.

 

References:

Wittgenstein, L. (1958). Philosophical investigations. London: Macmillan.

Kenny, A. (1973). Wittgenstein. Cambridge: Harvard University Press

Grice, H., “Logic and Conversation”, Studies in the Way of Words, Harvard University Press (Massachusetts 1989), 22-40