Sunday, January 12, 2014

Analysis and Ordinary Language

A main point of the Investigations entails that Astronomical or Chemical analysis does not justify replacing 'Sunrise is at 6 AM', or 'I need some water', in ordinary conversation, with 'Due to the spin of the Earth, this location will enter sunlight at 6 AM', or 'I need some H2O'.  However, it does not further follow that Genealogical analysis does not justify replacing 'You are Evil' with 'I hate you for being stronger than me'.  For, Wittgenstein's method of bringing "words back from their metaphysical to their everyday use" (#116) neglects and, perhaps, reinforces, the ideological prejudices congealed, over a long history, in that everyday use.  Accordingly, his assertion, at #124, that "Philosophy may in no way interfere with the actual use of language" may not be as ideologically neutral as he might prefer.

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