Abstract

This article reconstructs Wittgenstein's philosophy of language. Language-game is a system of operating rules of meaning consists of internal relations between language expressions and their criteria. It is argued that the "meaning" of words is not their "use", but rather, the meaning is "explained" by their use. The famous #43 paragraph of "Philosophical Investigations" is interpreted as a distinction between explaining the meaning of words by their use "in the language", and explaining it by pointing to criteria outside the language. These two types of explanations hold also for the meaning of "meaning". A third use of "meaning", called by Wittgenstein "the figurative employment of the work", signifies inner experiences accompany linguistic expressions. It is claimed that Wittgenstein dogmatically eliminates the description of this "use" of "meaning" from the grammar in order to exclude the inner experiences from the language-game