Language is NOT about the World
Wittgenstein’s Alternative Model of Linguistic Meaning
When I say “Cat” why do you think of the animal in the above picture and not a three letter word?
When we speak we assume that what we say is about the world around us. For example, if I say “nice weather today,” I am not just blowing air out of my mouth in a strange way. I am telling you about the lovely weather outside.
The most common way that language is connected to the world is through the notion of “meaning.” When I say that the weather is nice its means that the weather outside my window is nice. However, many have argued that this view is inadequate at best, and too weak at worst.
In this essay, I will briefly outline two traditional theories of meaning and how they give an account of how language is about the world. I will then present Ludwig Wittgenstein’s theory of meaning as use as an alternative to said views of linguistic meaning; an interesting consequence of which is that language is not about the world.
Language has Meaning
After René Descartes, language was seen as the vehicle of ideas for the sake of communication. That is, language is the thing that allows for ideas to move…
