David Peat

Language 81cal form as the events it describes in the world. Wittgenstein claimedthat there was always a particular grammar to such a proposition. Inreply Sraffa made the familiar Italian gesture of dismissal or contempt,sweeping his fingers and back of the hand outward from under thechin and asking, “What is the form of that?”Wittgenstein was struck that, while the gesture had a very clearmeaning, it did not correspond to anything in the world. Now, in hisencounters with his students, he began to explore the richness andcomplexity of language. He showed that meaning has less to do withpicturing reality than with knowing about the different ways languageis used and the various ways it works.In the Tractatus he had erected a barrier around what could beclearly said. Now he realized that he had restricted language and interferedwith its freedom. Nevertheless, part of his original argument remainedvalid: instead of attempting to arrive at universal truths, philosophyshould be pointing out nonsense, resolving confusions, andbeing ever clear about what language is doing. Philosophy, he continuedto assert, “will never reach the essence of truth about the world.”He wasn’t at all sure if there existed some sort of hidden meaning thatwould tell us the true nature of “mind,” or “justice,” or “God.” Just asNiels Bohr had questioned whether a “reality” does exist below theatom, Wittgenstein questioned whether certain philosophical “truths”could be said to have an existence.In investigating the many ways we use language Wittgenstein likedto pick the example of a game. Suppose a being arrives from the planetMars and asks: “What is a game?” I switch on the television and show afootball match, and a baseball game. “Ah!” the Martian realizes, “then adebate in the British House of Commons must be a game because ithas two teams, a set of rules, and one team wins and the other loses.”In reply I point to children playing in the street and hand the Martiana book on chess and say, “these are also games.” The Martian isnaturally confused and pushes me to define exactly what is a game.Does it have to have sets of rules and precise strategies like chess? Ormust there always be two teams like baseball? And if all-in wrestling isa game then what about ballroom dancing? Does every game involvecompetition of one person or team against another? Then what about