Wittgenstein's Theory of Meaning

Wittgenstein's theory of meaning is a theory meant to abolish the long time-accepted referential theory of meaning. In his own theory, the meaning of words is not about pointing to its bearer or to its reference; it is about the use of a word in a sentence or the use of a word in a particular language game. He presented his theory in a manner of presenting counter-examples. With these simple yet solid examples, many are persuaded that the referential theory of meaning should be abolished.

On the other hand, Wittgenstein's notion of language games goes like this: In a particular language consisting of many words, we can use those words to construct sentences and later to form an idea based on the meaning of the words in the sentences particularly the subject. However, due to his theory of meaning, a word may have different meaning based on the context of the sentence or how was the word used in the sentence. Therefore, he presented a term language game. A natural language possesses different language games, and the meaning of sentences constructed by different words is based on the language game someone is playing. His example was the word bat. In one language game, it may mean the only mammal capable of flight. In another language game, it may mean the instrument used in playing baseball. So language game is a game dependent on the contextual relationship of word to other words in a sentence.

1. What is an ideal language? Is Wittgenstein for or against the creation of it? Explain.

An ideal language is a language that is precise, not ambiguous, and clear in structure and its words have solid definitions or meanings. I think that Wittgenstein is against the creation of it. I said so because he is the one who proposed language games. And with this, he means that a particular language has different language games, therefore saying that words in a particular language may have different meanings based on its usage. And so, an ideal language would not be an ideal language for Wittgenstein.

2. Explain "Philosophy may in no way interfere with the actual use of language it can only in the end describe it".

Wittgenstein may mean that Philosophy is a tool used to describe or even decipher the meaning of the words in the language. As according to him, "It leaves everything as it is... it neither explains nor deduces anything".