Why is Wittgenstein Important?

Abstract

To understand the importance of Wittgenstein we must examine language as an ensemble of strategies for weaving together words and actions. A failure to grasp the workings of language is at the root of our philosophical problems. Wittgenstein’s approach to philosophy, investigating both the formation and transference, of skill and the notion of rule-following, was that of a craftsman. A craft embodies “tacit knowing” in that it is learned through the repetition of a specified action until it becomes second nature. Skills cannot be learned from books because they cannot be described literally, although description can play a role in reminding the apprentice of the different stages through which (s) he must pass in order to master the craft. There is no single or fixed application of any rule. In his work on skill-acquisition Wittgenstein articulates what it means to learn on the basis of practical experience alone. Words, symbols, and sentences are only part of language, meaningful only to the extent that they are embedded in actions (or what Heidegger termed a situation). Through his study of language games, Wittgenstein shows how the whole range of human activities is constituted in changing alliances between words and actions. Wittgenstein’s mature philosophy is therefore vitally important for understanding the relation between artificial and natural intelligence, and the dependence of the new technology on human modes of learning (rather than vice versa).