From: Sam Norton (elizaphanian@kohath.wanadoo.co.uk)
Date: Sun Dec 26 2004 - 13:26:41 GMT
Hi Dan H,
I was using the phrase 'form of life' in something like a technical sense, that is, as it is used by
Wittgenstein (as his thinking is what I rely on for questions about language, and much else
besides).
Roughly speaking, a form of life is a pattern of behaviour, primarily social behaviour, which
governs the use of language (so a form of life is related to the notion of 'language-game' in his
thinking). So, the meaning of a word is (mostly) its use within the language game; we can't
understand what a word means by looking first at dictionary definitions, we must first look at the
social practices etc where the word would most characteristically be used; 'praxis' gives the words
their sense.
If you want a further explanation, I'd be happy to oblige; I've talked about this in the forum
before.
Regards
Sam
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