Private language argument

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Ludwig Wittgenstein
Early philosophy Picture theory of language Truth tables Truth conditions Truth functions State of affairs Logical necessity
Later philosophy Meaning as use Language-game Private language argument Family resemblance Ideal language analysis Rule-following Form of life Anti-skepticism Philosophy of mathematics
Movements Analytic philosophy Linguistic turn Ideal language philosophy Logical atomism Pyrrhonian skepticism Ordinary language philosophy Fideism Quietism Therapeutic approach Postanalytic philosophy
Works Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus "Some Remarks on Logical Form" Blue and Brown Books Philosophical Remarks Philosophical Investigations On Certainty Culture and Value Remarks on Frazer's Golden Bough Remarks on the Foundations of Mathematics Zettel Remarks on Colour Lectures and Conversations on Aesthetics, Psychology and Religious Belief
People Bertrand Russell G. E. Moore John Maynard Keynes Paul Engelmann Friedrich Waismann Moritz Schlick Rudolf Carnap Francis Skinner Frank Ramsey Vienna Circle G. E. M. Anscombe Norman Malcolm Rush Rhees Peter Winch Peter Geach G. H. von Wright
Interpreters G. E. M. Anscombe Gordon Baker Stanley Cavell James F. Conant Alice Crary Cora Diamond Terry Eagleton Juliet Floyd A. C. Grayling Peter Hacker Oswald Hanfling Cressida Heyes Jaakko Hintikka Anthony Kenny Saul Kripke Warren Goldfarb Sandra Laugier Sabina Lovibond Norman Malcolm John McDowell Stephen Mulhall Colin McGinn Marie McGinn D. Z. Phillips Rupert Read Constantine Sandis Barry Stroud Stephen Toulmin Michael Williams Peter Winch John Wisdom Crispin Wright Hans Sluga
Other topics Cambridge Apostles Cambridge University Moral Sciences Club New Wittgenstein Stonborough House
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The private language argument argues that a language understandable by only a single individual is incoherent. It was introduced by Ludwig Wittgenstein in his later work, especially in the Philosophical Investigations.^[1] The argument was central to philosophical discussion in the second half of the 20th century.

In the Investigations, Wittgenstein does not present his arguments in a succinct and linear fashion; instead, he describes particular uses of language and prompts the reader to contemplate the implications of those uses. This technique gives rise to considerable dispute about both the nature of the argument and its implications. Indeed, it has become common to talk of private language arguments.

Historians of philosophy see precursors of the private language argument in a variety of sources, notably in the work of Gottlob Frege and John Locke.^[2] Locke is also a prominent exponent of the view targeted by the argument, since he proposed in his An Essay Concerning Human Understanding that the referent of a word is the idea it stands for.