The Philosophical Significance of Secondary Uses of Language in Wittgenstein’s Later Philosophy

Marco Marchesin

doi:10.15845/nwr.v11i0.3605

Authors

Marco Marchesin University of East Anglia (UEA)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15845/nwr.v11i0.3605

Keywords:

Wittgenstein, Secondary Sense, Meaning, Rules

Abstract

This paper aims to provide an account of Wittgenstein’s employment of the distinction between primary and secondary use of words. Against views that circumscribe its relevance to aesthetics and ethics, the paper demonstrates that there are many instances of secondary uses in Wittgenstein’s work that are not reducible to those limited applications. Additionally, as secondary uses are often interpreted as having an expressive function, the paper argues that we cannot reduce secondariness to a single unifying principle, because the distinction is philosophical, as it works as a powerful device to tackle different, often unrelated, philosophical issues.

References

Ambrose, A., ed., 1982. Wittgenstein's Lectures, Cambridge, 1932–35. Oxford: Blackwell. (AWL)

Baker G. P., Hacker P. M. S., 1980. Wittgenstein: Understanding and Meaning. Oxford: Blackwell.

Baker G. P., Hacker P. M. S., 2005a. Wittgenstein: Understanding and Meaning (Part 1). Second extensively revised edition by P. M. S. Hacker. Oxford: Blackwell.

Bar-Elli, G., 2006. “Wittgenstein on the Experience of Meaning and the Meaning of Music”. Philosophical Investigations 29, 217–249.

Berlin, I., Forguson, L. W., Pears, D., eds., 1973. Essays on J. L. Austin. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Budd, M., 2006. “The Characterization of Aesthetic Qualities by Essential Metaphors and Quasi-Metaphors”. The British Journal of Aesthetics, 133–143.

Diamond, C., 1991. “Secondary Sense”. In C. Diamond, The Realistic Spirit. Cambridge MA: MIT Press.

Gargani, A., 2008. Wittgenstein. Musica, Parola, Gesto. Milano: Raffaello Cortina Editore.

Glock, H. J., 1996. A Wittgenstein Dictionary. Oxford: Blackwell.

Gustafsson, M., 2020. “Wittgenstein on Using Language and Playing Chess: The Breakdown of an Analogy and its Consequences”. In S. Miguens, ed., The Logical Alien. Harvard: Harvard University Press, 202–221.

Hanfling, O., 1990. “I Heard a Plaintive Melody”. Philosophical Investigations, 117–133.

Hanfling, O., 2002. Wittgenstein and the Human Form of Life. London: Routledge.

Kindi, V., 2009. “Second Thoughts on Wittgenstein’s Secondary Sense”. In V. A. Munz, K. Puhl, J. Wang, eds. Proceedings of the 32nd Wittgenstein Symposium. Kirchberg am Wechsel: ALWS 2009.

Ter Hark, M., 2009. “Coloured Vowels: Wittgenstein on Synaesthesia and Secondary Meaning”. Philosophia 37, 589–604.

Ter Hark, M., 2011. “Wittgenstein on the Experience of Meaning and Secondary Use”. In O. Kuusela, M. McGinn, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Wittgenstein. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 500–523.

Tilghman, B. R., 1984. But is It Art? Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

Wittgenstein, L., 1958. Preliminary Studies for the “Philosophical Investigations” Generally Known as Blue and Brown Books. Oxford: Blackwell. (BB)

Wittgenstein, L., 1965. “Lecture on Ethics”. The Philosophical Review 74, 3–12.

Wittgenstein, L., 1967. Zettel, ed. G. E. M. Anscombe and G. H. von Wright, trans. G. E. M. Anscombe. Oxford: Blackwell. (Z)

Wittgenstein, L., 1974. Philosophical Grammar, ed. R. Rhees, trans. A. Kenny. Oxford: Blackwell. (PG)

Wittgenstein, L., 1980. Remarks on the Philosophy of Psychology, vol. 1., ed. G. E. M. Anscombe and G. H. von Wright, trans. G. E. M. Anscombe. Oxford: Blackwell. (RPP I)

Wittgenstein, L., 1982. Last Writings on the Philosophy of Psychology: Preliminary Studies for Part II of Philosophical Investigations, ed. G. H. von Wright and H. Nyman, trans. C. G. Luckhardt and M. A. E. Aue. Oxford: Blackwell. (LW I)

Wittgenstein, L., 1983. Remarks on the Philosophy of Psychology, vol. 2., ed. G. E. M. Anscombe and G. H. von Wright, trans. G. E. M. Anscombe. Oxford: Blackwell. (RPP II)

Wittgenstein, L., 2009. Philosophical Investigations, 4th ed., ed. P. M. S. Hacker and J. Schulte, trans. G. E. M. Anscombe, P. M. S. Hacker and J. Schulte. Oxford: Blackwell. (PI–PPF)