Challenges to Wittgenstein's Language Games

Wittgenstein's theory of language is a theory that sees language as non-cognitive. Therefore the challenges that are presented against non-cognitivism also apply to Wittgenstein's language games. As this is non-cognitive, we cannot then hold it up to scrutiny. It cannot be objectively true or at least, can be proved to be.

Rush Rhees, said that the strength of Wittgenstein's Language Games rested on the assumption that there is a link between games and language. This was rather like an analogy, Therefore, just as Hume said for Paley 'the strength of the analogy is essential if it is to succeed as a method of persuasion', so it is true for Wittgenstein.

Rhees also presented these 3 arguments.

1) Language was about making sense to people, not following certain rules or principles.

2) It may be possible to explain a game to someone who has never played it before , but that is not the same for language. Explaining language to someone who has never spoken language or heard language before is rather like asking a blind person (this is assuming that they have been blind from birth) if all they can see is black. They don't know what black is.

3) To know what is means to play a game, you need to know what the people are doing. But with language, it is not enough to just know what they are doing, you need to fully understand it. An example of this is it's all very well memorising your revision notes for RE but you really need to fully understand the ins and outs of what is being said!