Against language games

Abstract

The essay presents a critique of the Wittgensteinian concept of language-games. A distinction is made between the technical and literal use of the term ‘game’ within Wittgenstein’s philosophy of language. It is demonstrated that the concept of language-games is constructed by analogy with games that literally involve the use of linguistic expressions. Arguments are given to show that ‘game’ is an unfortunate analogy for language use. On the one hand, it is intended to show the active and heterogeneous nature of language, which is achievable through other comparisons (e.g. with sport or dance). On the other hand, it misses the point that in a few contexts language use is not a game.