An idea · Twentieth Century (to mid-century) · first attested 1953
Language-Games
Meaning is use within a form of life.
The later Wittgenstein's replacement for his earlier picture theory. There is no single essence of "meaning." Words mean by being used, and they are used in countless different practices — language-games — promising, ordering, joking, doing arithmetic, lamenting, praying. Each game has its own rules. Philosophical confusion arises when we use a word outside its home game and assume it still functions the same way.