Definitions HQ

Family resemblance (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a push against the fixity of meaning. We tend to wrongly think of words as labels that we can apply to things, ideas, mental states, and so on.

Family resemblance (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠similar to a rope where the strength of the thread does not reside in the fact that some one fibre runs through its whole length, but in the overlapping of many fibres.

Family resemblance (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the idea that whereas we are inclined to think that there must be something in common to all games, whereas games form a family, the members of which have family likenesses. Some of them have the same nose, others the same eyebrows, and others again the same way of walking ... and these likenesses overlap.

Family resemblance (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠how Spengler should have put it: he compares cultures to families, and must say so, lest we ascribe to the cases what is true only of the model.

Family resemblance (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠like a rope tying ship to wharf: its strength comes not from any fibre running end to end, but from a vast number of fibres overlapping.

Family resemblance (n.) was ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠missed by the hunt for one common element in every application of a general term, a hunt that shackled philosophy, led to no result, and made the concrete cases look irrelevant.

A Family resemblance (n.) seen ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠in someone's face can endure, not just flash: when I look at him I always see his father's face.

A Family resemblance (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠recognised by an eye for it, without being able to say where the likeness lies.