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1 results

  • 5 - Wittgenstein on concepts

  • Edited by Arif Ahmed, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    Wittgenstein's <I>Philosophical Investigations</I>
    Published online:
    06 July 2010
    Print publication:
    13 May 2010, pp 88-108

  • Summary

    The first section of this chapter expounds the exegetical importance of his topic and lists claims about concepts that can be found in Wittgenstein's later work. The second section indicates why the topic is significant from a substantive perspective. It distinguishes five philosophical questions about concepts, the definition question, the possession question, the priority question, the individuation question and the function question, and introduces Wittgenstein's answers. The next two sections discuss two of these answers. Next, the chapter rejects the Wittgensteinian proposal that concepts can be equated with abilities. The sixth section does the same with Wittgenstein's own suggestion that they can be equated with techniques or rules. The final section turns to the individuation question. An adequate criterion for the identity of concepts emerges through combining Frege's idea of cognitive equivalence with Wittgenstein's idea to determine meaning by explanation.