Wittgenstein and Family Concepts
Keywords:
family resemblance, concepts, Wittgenstein LudwigAbstract
In this paper, I examine the three interpretations of sections 65-67 in Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations, where he answers the question “do we call different things by the same word because of a common feature?” Interpretation A holds that we call different things by the same word because of overlapping similarities between them; Interpretation B adopts a socio-historical reading, where concepts evolved and extended historically on the basis of some similarities; and interpretation C includes aspects of the first two interpretations, but sees similarities as just one of several kinds of relations and affinities between concepts which explain why we call different things by the same word. Through an investigation of Wittgenstein’s answer and the objections made to interpretation A, I argue that interpretation C, although not prominent in the secondary literature, provides better answers to the objections raised.
References
Aarts, B. et al. (Eds). (2004). Fuzzy grammar: a reader. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Baker, G.P & P.M.S. Hacker (1980). Wittgenstein: Understanding and Meaning. Oxford: Blackwell.
Baker, G.P & P.M.S. Hacker (2005). Wittgenstein: Understanding and Meaning. Vol. 1, Part II: Exegesis. 2nd. Extensively revised by P.M.S Hacker. Oxford: Blackwell.
Baker, G.P & P.M.S. Hacker (2009). Wittgenstein: Understanding and Meaning, vol. 1, Part I: Essays. 2nd. Extensively revised by P.M.S Hacker. Oxford: Blackwell.
Bambrough, J.R. (1960). “Universals and Family Resemblances”. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, vol. LXI, pp. 207-222.
Beadsmore, R.W. (1995). “Art and Family Resemblances”. Philosophical Investigations, 18, pp. 199-215.
Bellaimey, J.E. (1990). “Family Resemblances and the Problem of the Under-Determination of Extension”. Philosophical Investigations, 13, pp. 31-43.
Chapman, M. & R. Dixon (Eds.) (1987). Meaning and the growth of understanding: Wittgenstein's significance for developmental Psychology. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Gert, H. (1995). “Family resemblances and Criteria”. Synthese, vol. 105, no. 2, pp. 177-190.
Hunter, J. (1985). Understanding Wittgenstein. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Kenny, A. (2006). Wittgenstein. 2nd. Blackwell publishing.
Kober, M. (Ed.) (2006). Deepening our Understanding of Wittgenstein. Grazer Philosophische Studien, Vol 71. Rodopi: Amsterdam-New York.
Mandelbaum, M. (1995). “Family Resemblance and Generalizations Concerning the Arts”. In The Philosophy of Art. Ed .by. A. Neill and A. Ridley, A. McGraw-Hill.
Neill, A. and A. Ridley (Eds.) (1995). The Philosophy of Art. New York; London: McGraw-Hill.
Prien, B. (2004). “Family Resemblances: A Thesis about the Change of Meaning over Time”. Kriterion, 18, pp. 15-24.
Rosch, E., & C. B. Mervis (1975 ). “Family resemblances: Studies in the internal structure of categories”. Cognitive Psychology, 7, pp. 573-605.
Rosch, E., & C. B. Mervis (1981). “Categorization of Natural Objects”. Annual Review of Psychology, Vol. 32, pp. 89-115.
Rosch, E. (1987). “Wittgenstein and categorization research in cognitive psychology”. In Meaning and the growth of understandin: Wittgenstein's significance for developmental Psychology. Ed. By M. Chapman & R. Dixon. Erlbaum.
Rosch, E. (2004). “Principles of Categorization”. In Fuzzy grammar: a reader. Ed. By. Aarts, B. et al. Oxford University Press.
Sluga, H.D. (2006). “Family Resemblance”. In Deepening our Understanding of Wittgenstein. Ed.by. M. Kober. Rodopi.
Wittgenstein, L. (1953). Philosophical Investigations. Oxford: Blackwell. (PI)
Wittgenstein, L. (1958). The Blue and Brown Books. Oxford: Blackwell. (BBB)
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
NWR uses the Creative Commons license CC-BY.
Vol. 1-3 used CC-BY-NC-SA. The collected works copyright ownership for Vol. 1-2 were shared by Nordic Wittgenstein Society and ontos Verlag/De Gruyter.
