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Single Idea 7875

[filed under theme 19. Language / F. Communication / 4. Private Language ]

Full Idea

Let's assume the child is a genius and itself invents a name for the sensation! - But then, of course, he couldn't make himself understood when he used the word.

Gist of Idea

If a brilliant child invented a name for a private sensation, it couldn't communicate it

Source

Ludwig Wittgenstein (Philosophical Investigations [1952], §257)

Book Ref

Wittgenstein,Ludwig: 'Philosophical Investigations', ed/tr. Anscombe,E. [Blackwell 1972], p.92

A Reaction

[His example is a sensation with no behaviour] Sensations are not just related to behaviour; they are related to external objects, and to parts of the body. We doubt the sensations of others if they can't name the object or the body part.

The 21 ideas with the same theme [possibility of a solitary person having language]:

15991 Since words are just conventional, we can represent our own ideas with any words we please [Locke]
19585 Every person has his own language [Novalis]
8478 Dewey argued long before Wittgenstein that there could not seriously be a private language [Dewey, by Orenstein]
6093 The names in a logically perfect language would be private, and could not be shared [Russell]
4136 To imagine a language means to imagine a form of life [Wittgenstein]
6166 Was Wittgenstein's problem between individual and community, or between occasions for an individual? [Rowlands on Wittgenstein]
7875 If a brilliant child invented a name for a private sensation, it couldn't communicate it [Wittgenstein]
4146 We cannot doublecheck mental images for correctness (or confirm news with many copies of the paper) [Wittgenstein]
4147 If we only named pain by our own case, it would be like naming beetles by looking in a private box [Wittgenstein]
5659 If the reference is private, that is incompatible with the sense being public [Wittgenstein, by Scruton]
4152 Getting from perceptions to words cannot be a private matter; the rules need an institution of use [Wittgenstein]
23497 Solipsism is correct, but can only be shown, not said, by the limits of my personal language [Wittgenstein]
5817 Language is more like a cooperative steamship than an individual hammer [Putnam]
6279 A private language could work with reference and beliefs, and wouldn't need meaning [Putnam]
3970 Thought is only fully developed if we communicate with others [Davidson]
8870 Content of thought is established through communication, so knowledge needs other minds [Davidson]
11075 The sceptical rule-following paradox is the basis of the private language argument [Kripke, by Hanna]
8254 Forming concepts by abstraction from the Given is private definition, which the Private Lang. Arg. attacks [McDowell]
2484 The theory of the content of thought as 'Mentalese' explains why the Private Language Argument doesn't work [Fodor]
3516 The Private Language argument only means people may misjudge their experiences [Papineau]
3882 Wittgenstein makes it impossible to build foundations from something that is totally private [Scruton]