Sec19 Grp1: Vittginshteyne

 (I really didn't expect to be the first student to post in November...)

The philosopher/linguist Ludwig Wittgenstein believes there are processes of naming objects, sensations, or ideas known as "naming games" or "family resemblance terms." This basically means that he carries a thesaurus in his brain at all times. In order to understand the idea of something, say, a "game," we must stretch the limits of it and invent a concept outside of its invisible boundaries. Unlike right and wrong, where we can differ given the controversial topic, appropriating the concept in question a name is supposed to make it clear-cut.

However, this isn't to say we don't reuse old words for esoteric purposes instead of inventing new ones. The terms themselves are more often than not similar, though, so using Wittgenstein's "family resemblance" concept we can guess the meaning of a term.

For example, (since I'm reading Moby Dick in my English class now), "bulwarks." Without nautical knowledge, we can assume the bulwarks are a barrier on a ship that prevents things or people from falling off, since bulwark means wall.

And though these words are similar, they do not share an "essence," a common linguistic ancestor. Any suggestion of shared "essence" is too opinionated to be correct, anyway. But we don't usually have to know the exact definition of a word to understand the concept, i.e. "hot."
Fire burn.