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Full Idea
I shall say 'games' form a family, with a 'family resemblance', for the resemblances within a family - build, eyes, temperament etc. - overlap and criss-cross in the same way.
Gist of Idea
Various games have a 'family resemblance', as their similarities overlap and criss-cross
Source
Ludwig Wittgenstein (Philosophical Investigations [1952], §067)
Book Ref
Wittgenstein,Ludwig: 'Philosophical Investigations', ed/tr. Anscombe,E. [Blackwell 1972], p.32
A Reaction
A very helpful idea for the nominalist view of universals, particularly for showing how concepts shade off indeterminately at the edges.
Related Idea
Idea 11132 The prototype theory is probabilistic, picking something out if it has sufficient of the properties [Margolis/Laurence]
| 4141 | Various games have a 'family resemblance', as their similarities overlap and criss-cross [Wittgenstein] |
| 3176 | Anything bears a family resemblance to a game, but obviously not anything counts as one [Rey] |
| 21600 | 'Blue' is not a family resemblance, because all the blues resemble in some respect [Williamson] |
| 22336 | We might say that the family resemblance is just a consequence of meaning-as-use [Glock] |
| 22335 | The variety of uses of 'game' may be that it has several meanings, and isn't a single concept [Glock] |