Wittgenstein’s Private Language Argument

Wittgenstein’s Private Language argument is one of the central parts of his philosophy of language and mind. It appears in his Philosophical Investigations (1952) as part of his famous ’later’ philosophy of language. But what is the argument, and what does it tell us about the nature of language and meaning? In this video, we’ll find out. You can support the channel and help it grow by contributing on my Ko-fi page: 00:00 - Intro 00:52 - What is a private language? 01:46 - Why care about private language? 02:12 - Who is the argument against? 02:44 - The Cartesian mind 03:33 - Empiricism 05:06 - William James’s Philosophy of Psychology 05:55 - The Private Language argument 08:07 - The diary example 09:59 - Rules and language games 12:06 - The beetle-in-a-box argument 13:55 - Understanding the analogy 15:38 - The purpose of the private language argument 16:55 - Ayer’s Interpretation 18:53 - The Standard Int