Quotation
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“For a large class of cases — though not for all — in which we employ the word 'meaning', it can be defined thus: the meaning of a word is its use in the language.”
Ludwig Wittgenstein · Analytic philosophy · Modern · 1953
What does it mean?
For a large class of cases, not for all, the meaning of a word is its use in the language. The qualification is the remark. A rival reading drops 'not for all' and announces a theory: meaning just is use, everywhere, and any talk of reference is confused. He is offering a definition for many cases, inside a book that keeps showing words at work, not a single theory to replace the Tractatus in one blow. Another reading hears a ban on ever asking what a word stands for.
Did Ludwig Wittgenstein really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. Anscombe's English. The qualification 'for a large class of cases — though not for all' is part of the remark. Dropping it turns a careful section into the slogan 'meaning is use'.
Where it comes from
Philosophical Investigations §43, in G. E. M. Anscombe's translation
Approximate date: 1953.
How to use it
In a benefits office in Manchester, 'disability' does different work on a form, in a kitchen, and in a tribunal. Ask which use is in play before you announce what the word means. The remark licenses that question for a large class of cases. It does not say the tribunal and the kitchen must be the same, and it does not say either of them is nonsense.
A mindset reading
Anscombe's translation is the classic English. The dashes are his caution. Quoting only 'meaning is use' is how a therapy of philosophy became a badge. The Investigations are not a badge.
Understand the philosophy
Section 43 belongs to the attack on the idea that meaning is an aura accompanying the word. It does not cancel proposition 7 of the Tractatus by itself. The two books remain two books.
- knowledge
- meaning
- mind
FAQ
What does it mean?
For a large class of cases, not for all, the meaning of a word is its use in the language. The qualification is the remark. A rival reading drops 'not for all' and announces a theory: meaning just is use, everywhere, and any talk of reference is confused. He is offering a definition for many cases, inside a book that keeps showing words at work, not a single theory to replace the Tractatus in one blow. Another reading hears a ban on ever asking what a word stands for.
Did Ludwig Wittgenstein really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. Anscombe's English. The qualification 'for a large class of cases — though not for all' is part of the remark. Dropping it turns a careful section into the slogan 'meaning is use'.
Which work is it in?
Philosophical Investigations §43, in G. E. M. Anscombe's translation Approximate date: 1953.