form of life (n.) is 'the system of reference by means of which we interpret an unknown language.

Ludwig Wittgenstein on Form of Life

form of life

From: “… What has to be accepted, the given, is—so one could …”

is philosophy's polite name for how your people do Tuesday.

is 'the system of reference by means of which we interpret an unknown language.

Forms of life can be understood as changing and contingent, dependent on culture, context, history, etc... this appeal to forms of life grounds a relativistic reading of Wittgenstein. On the other hand, it is the form of life common to humankind, 'shared human behavior' which is 'the system of reference by means of which we interpret an unknown language' (PI 206). This might be seen as a universalistic turn, recognizing that the use of language is made possible by the human form of life.'

is a form created by and for those who are in possession of language.

Wittgenstein takes language to be the mark of human sociality: Hence human forms of life are defined by the fact that they are forms created by and for those who are in possession of language' (Das 1998:180)

is not agreement in definitions or opinions, but rather, agreement in judgments.

It is not only agreement in definitions but also (odd as it may sound) in judgments that is required' (PI 242), and this is 'agreement not in opinions, but rather in form of life' (PI 241).

is a life that can never be separated from its form, a life in which it is never possible to separate something such as bare life.

What I call a form-of-life is a life that can never be separated from its form, a life in which it is never possible to separate something such as bare life.' (Agamben interview German Law Journal)

is never a matter of shared opinions. Rather it involves the entanglements of customs, habits, rules and examples.

Agreement in forms of life, in Wittgenstein, is never a matter of shared opinions. It thus requires an excess of description to capture the entanglements of customs, habits, rules and examples' (Das 1998:179)

community

hinge proposition

understanding

living

culture

habit

language

language game

meaning

practice

rule

meaning in use

vertical sense of the form of life

worldview

mode of being

academia

Ludwig Wittgenstein

absolute knowing

absolute space

abstract machine

abyss

accumulation by dispossession

actualism

affirmative culture

affordance

agonism

aletheia

alethurgy

allegory of the cave

amor fati

Analytic - Synthetic Distinction

animality

anomalous monism

anthropocentrism

anthropomorphism

anti humanism

anticipative resoluteness

antinomy

aphanisis

apollinian

apollonian

Apollonian and the Dionysian

archaeology of knowledge

architectonic

aristotelianism

art of existence

art of government

art of life

artifactuality

artificial conceptual blockage

as if

as structure

as-if system of idea

ascending type of man

associated milieu

association of ideas

associative coherence

asymmetrical causation

athletic view of music

atlas malediction

a priori

absolute

anthropos

attunement

attunement (Befindlichkeit)

Definitions HQ