Wittgenstein vs Socrates on Definitions and Explanations (James Klagge)

Wittgenstein described some of his views as being the opposite of Socrates'. Socrates famously sought essential definitions for concepts such as Truth, Justice, Knowledge, Goodness, Beauty, etc. This search for the definition or essential nature of things (i.e. the necessary and sufficient conditions for a given concept) is the very paradigm of philosophical or conceptual analysis. But according to Wittgenstein, such abstract terms do not have or do not need to have an underlying essence which all the particular instances have in common. We understand the meaning of such terms enough to be able to use them, even if we cannot spell out their precise conditions. Indeed, things of the same kind need not share any underlying universal or common nature, but only a variety of overlapping similarities, which Wittgenstein famously called "family resemblances". In this way, Wittgenstein was something of a nominalist, rejecting essentialism. So too, while Socrates was always looking for deeper explanations, Wittgenstein was quite skeptical of this sort of intellectualism. For although the unexamined life is not worth living, the endlessly examined life is something that isn't even livable. This talk was given by James Klagge at the Wittgenstein Archive at Bergen, University of Bergen, Norway, March 6, 2012. It is a re-upload. #philosophy #wittgenstein #socrates #plato #historyofphilosophy #epistemology Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices