Language Games

The idea of language games, in the abstract, originated from early 20th century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. He presented a model of human discourse within a given culture (understood in the broadest sense), noting that some players have more influence on the use and development of a language than others. As such, he regarded them as competent game players. From his perspective, how a language is used defines its characteristics, e.g. how words are used, how word order (grammar) is established or modified, etc. Wittgenstein's conception laid the groundwork both for more radical forms of nominalistic philosophies and for more aggressive forms of language control. In a sense, we can thank Wittgenstein for providing hard philosophical support (in the sense of one leg of a stool, with folks like Jacques Derrida and Paul Ricœur working to remove other, older legs and folks like Auguste Compte who sought to strip science of unnecessary metaphysical presuppositions) for regimes of political correctness.

The French philosopher, Jean-François Lyotard, took this a step further in the direction of cultural relativism by introducing the notion of "micro-narratives" as stories that arise naturally in the competition of cultures, and by noting that so-called "grand narratives" are no longer accepted. He became aware, of course, that this "collapse" (as he put it) of "grand narratives" challenged the existence of universal concepts of justice, and he struggled to find a non-naive substitute. Subsequent history, however, has proved that such ideas are distinctly malleable and subject to change without prior notice, largely under the control of societal, economic and governmental elites.

This struggle to define and stabilize concepts of justice, freedom, democracy, family, gender, marriage, etc. has, naturally, had a major impact on the use of the terms "progressive" and "progressivism." Current use of these terms tends to be circular, if not entirely arbitrary - a point which gives substance to the idea that there is a battle being waged to control a grand, universal narrative.

Meanwhile, sociologists, psychologists, political scientists and philosophers are struggling to keep up with this "churn" of elite thinking, and ordinary people are finding that engaging in serious discourse is increasingly hazardous.