From Painting Pictures to Playing Games

Wittgenstein’s Language Game and Kierkegaardian Ethics

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Games are central to human life. As kids, games help us develop our bodies and minds through physical activity and socializing with others. Studies have shown that in life because they develop traits such as curiosity, self-confidence, and emotional regulation .

It should come as no surprise then that games feature prominently in philosophy as well. A famous example of this is Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951), who argued that language is a game as language has a set of rules and players who must follow them.

In this article, we will look at the reasoning behind Wittgenstein’s idea of language games. We will do this by, first, looking at Wittgenstein’s argument for seeing language as a game and some problems with his view. We will then look at Kierkegaard’s account of moral language as an example of a language game and how it might solve some issues with Wittgenstein's view.

Wittgenstein and Philosophical Investigations

In Philosophical Investigations, Wittgenstein offers a series of reflections and arguments that are intended to show problems with the picture theory of language…