An Investigation On Wittgenstein’s “Lebensform”

Since Malcolm pointed out that “One could…hardly place too much stress on this…notion in Wittgenstein’s thought” in 1954, “Lebensform” has been a topic which cannot be ignored. This dissertation is an attempt to interpret Wittgenstein’s “Lebensform”. Afterall, we can conclude that, it is possible to interpret Wittgenstein‘s late philosophy by accepting “Lebensform” as a background.In the first part, we are facing these following questions: What can be counted as “Lebensform” in Wittgenstein’s text? What is the relation between “Lebensform” and other compound german words which have similar structure like “Lebensform”? The answer to the first question is related to the analysis of three German words: “Lebensform”, “Lebensformen” and “Form des Lebens”. We also concern the debate between “singular” and “plural”, and biological and cultural issues derived from which. Such debate contributes in philosophy, but not in “Lebensform” issue. However, this debate would prevent us from understanding “Lebensform”. As for the second question, compound words which has the word“life” as its part have some relations with “life”, that is obvious. Among them, “Lebensmuster”is the most controversial one. Whether “Lebensform” is a synonym of “Lebensmuster”? It is the second question in this chapter. We will point out, people who support the “synonyms” argument do not justify it sufficientlly. Conversely, if Wittgenstein used these two words on purpose, then maintaining these two kinds of statements is a better strategy.Since Wittgenstein’s philosophy is divided into two distinct parts: his early philosophy and late philosophy, the question of the relationship between “Forms of Life” and Wittgenstein’s early philosophy is the first one we will deal with. The word “Lebensform” appeared in Wittgenstein’s late philosophy, many scholars hardly take his early philosophy into consideration when talking about “Lebensform”, but in this chapter we will show that, there is a close relation between“form”, “formal concept”and “form of life”: First of all, in his early philosophy, “Form”is identified with “possibility”. Similarly, we can understand “form of life” as a “possibility of life”.In this context, our life is a kind of “possible life.” Secondly, we will understand “life” as a “formal concept.” But there is a slight difference between THIS “formal concept” and “formal concept” used by Wittgenstein himself: in his early philosophy, “formal concept” emphasizes the differences between “saying” and “presenting”; and “life as a formal concept” emphasizes the relationship between “practising” and “presenting”: I was involved in one of practical activities, but can not participate in the “life”; but by my activities, I can “present” my life. Similarly, “Forms of Life” is a “formal concept”: it is “the possibility of life, which is also as a formal concept”. By using this term, we do not intend to anaylze “Form of Life” in a philosophical way. On the contrary, it is contains a “non-theoretical” element in itself. We will show this point: our actions present our lives, and present the possibility of our lives at the same time.Compared to the early Wittgenstein’s philosophy, there are a lot of thought resources with “forms of life”in Wittgenstein’s later philosophy. The chapter on life forms and Wittgenstein’s late philosophy is the most important part in this dissertation. In chronological order, this chapter can be roughly divided into three sub-sections: the “album” metaphor, the “philosophy” disease, what recognized as the core philosophy of the late Wittgenstein topics: “language games”, “private language” and “certainty”, and Wittgenstein‘s thought on ethical and religious topics in his last years. In the “album” metaphor, we will point out the internal structure of this metaphor: “life”-“landscape”. We can conclude that: the Philosophical Investigations as an album actually depicts our life. In this part of “philosophical disease”, we will argue that, the treatment of “philosophy disease” consists of two elements: First, stressing the importance of ordinary language and ordinary life; second, consider the “Forms of Life” as a background to defeat “the tendence of philosophy tends”. On the topic of “language games”, “private language” and “certainty”, we will argue that: the diversity of our language presents in our form of life. Only under the background of “form of life”, can we understand the “language games”. There is no language game which is beyond the life. We can not understand other people’s language games, this is because of our inablity, but because there is no intersection between our form of life. Anti-Private Language thought is a continuation of “language games” thought: “Forms of Life” is that we have to accept, given things. It is a viewpoint shared by a community. In this sense, “Forms of Life” is also a background which is against “private language”: because obeying the rules is a public activity, this activity shows our form of life, and privately obeying the rules is completely closed, which is independent of our “form of life”. On the other hand, we also rely on the rules and customs in the history of our lives. On the “certainty” and “forms of life” relationship, we emphasize that: first, skeptical language game always depend on certain indubitable feature to run, which is considered by Wittgenstein as “common sense certainty”. We will reveal that: common sense certainty is not something independent of our knowledge network, living experience and community. It is something basic in a shared “form of life”. Here the “basis” is not something being proved, but rather the premise of our “playing”language game. Second, “I know” expresses a “comfortable certainty”, which can also be seen as a form of life. This kind of certainty has been able to give us a sense of security, because it maintains our comunnication in the community. On ethical topics, Wittgenstein took “action” as the core of his ethics. Changing our own lives by practising is not to cater to a certain doctine of ethics, but to make our lives consistent with the form of life. On religious topics, according to Malcolm’s summary, we can find four similarities between Wittgenstein’s philosophy and thought of religion are reflected in the thought of form of life. When Wittgenstein discussed specific religious activities, he believed that these activities are not blindly worship, but cannot be seperated from our form of life: it is from our environment, community and culture. By these discussions, we will show that “form of life” penerate in Wittgenstein’s late philosophy. And when we consider“form of life” as the background to think about these philosophical topics, we also gained a deeper understanding of Wittgenstein’s late philosophy. It is not a theoretical deepening, but a spiritual inspiration- it inspires us to embrace the reality, and to achieve a possible life.