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Playing Language Games

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WITTGENSTEINIAN (adj.)

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Abstract

Wittgenstein plays with language throughout his later philosophy. Imaginary scenes and invented languages turn metaphysical concerns into conceptual play. He sometimes describes his activities as five finger exercises in thinking—exercises that enable us to think differently.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For further discussion see BB 46–48. Many contemporary experiments in Virtual Reality exemplify and enact Wittgenstein’s exercises in thinking. They include the experience of moving from body to body and seeing through the eyes of another. As scientific experiments, they do not validate Wittgenstein’s conceptual play or present new information or discoveries. Rather, they lessen the philosophical task of imagining possibilities and raise shared conceptual concerns. See, for example, Rothman 2018; Yin 2018, and TheMachinetobeanother.org.

  2. 2.

    For further discussion, see Savickey (2016).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Philosophy Department, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

    Beth Savickey

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  1. Beth Savickey
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Correspondence to Beth Savickey .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. JVPD Scheme, Yoga Housing Society, Mumbai, India

    Shyam Wuppuluri

  2. Fuzzy Sets Laboratory, HCTE, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Newton da Costa

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Savickey, B. (2020). Playing Language Games. In: Wuppuluri, S., da Costa, N. (eds) WITTGENSTEINIAN (adj.). The Frontiers Collection. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27569-3_5

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