On a train from London to Leeds, I was pondering Wittgenstein’s example. It suddenly hit me that imagining the scenario in a ‘silent movie’ may help us see how the builder’s words could be used with meaning.
Is Wittgenstein right that his example with the builders giving orders could be a complete language? Isn’t Rush Rhees right that there must be learning, discourse and understanding for language ‘to hang together’? Otherwise, isn’t it merely something we are trained to do like monkeys? They just become signals and calls. Much like the ‘rhesus monkeys’ (or at least that is what they are called if I remember correctly) that have something like 39 distinct calls (much more than the amount of words in Wittgenstein’s language game). Each call designates a different predator such a snake or an eagle. When the lookout monkey sees the predator, the monkey makes his call to warn the others.
Now one may call this communication, one may say that this call ‘refers’ to that animal, one may say that one monkey is trying to warn the other animals etc. However, this is only by analogy to language. One would not actually call it language; one would not say that they are saying anything, and if they make the ‘wrong’ call, they haven’t said anything false. It seems they are just following their natural instincts, and if they have learnt what to do (here chimps may be a better example than these monkeys), these themselves follow a preordained pattern. Their calls lack the requisite intentionality; they are not about the objects or aimed at them, in the way that our words are. They are just following certain natural laws and following pre-ordained patterns. Mastering a technique in this sense cannot give us what we want from an account of language. Now I take that to be Rhee’s point… language isn’t like learning a set of rules “See how I talked about snakes, now you talk like me”. Learning language is learning how to say things, not just use sounds at the right time.
Wittgenstein talks of language-games as not only language but also the actions with which they are woven. This could just be a reiteration of the point that when the foreman shouts “Slab!” the builder brings the slab. OR… it could be about the other actions, which help us learn that a word is ‘about’ an object, but which are not themselves part of its ‘meaning’. Through training, we come to understand how are words are applied and in what situations. And it is this understanding (and the corresponding opportunity to misunderstand) that is vital to words being part of a language and not mere calls or part of a calculus.
So there are two equally important points to note. First… understanding is non-linguistic; we can show understanding non-linguistically, correct applications of words non-linguistically, make gestures to indicate our not understanding etc. Second… the flip side of the coin is that for something to have meaning, it (the meaning) has to be completely intra-linguistic. It cannot be ‘tied’ to reality or any particular application, image etc etc etc. I stress ‘particular’, because we wouldn’t get to mean anything without using it and applying it at all or if we didn’t ‘follow rules or going against them in actual cases’. In other words, there must be some application to ‘give life’ to the signs. However, there is no natural/ supernatural ‘meaning-connection’ to reality. The meaning of red is well… ummm… just those objects that are (believe it or not) red! {This is merely a grammatical comment and not a specification of any particular application}
In fact, it is this lack of connection to reality that allows us to use the words to be about this or that at all. We intend to use it in this way (accompanied by non-linguistic action). There is no mindless super/natural pointing to reality; no mindless following of rules. We have to grasp what is meant by the term i.e. what applications are intended, what a word is about. Ummm… not explained well. Let’s say this: the meaning of the word is linguistic, but we don’t want to grasp a ‘meaning’ (which is trivial: just ask!). Instead, we want to grasp what is meant (and this is non-linguistic). Thus, what is meant (the content) is non-linguistic (i.e. we mean something about the world such as about the sky being blue). Of course any specification of what is meant is given by words and thus becomes part of the grammar. But this is why we have to recognise that understanding (grasping) itself is non-linguistic.
Now, given this, we can see how ‘Wittgenstein’s Builders’ isn’t just a learnt response, or a system of calls etc. The words are meant and form a ‘language’. And this is where the example of the silent movie comes in. This is one of the old-fashioned Charlie Chaplin type films in black and white with someone playing the piano in the cinema. Most of the time you just see people and their actions: what they are doing. However, you may occasionally get a black screen with white writing on it. I suppose in presentation it is just like you used to get with the old batman series where you would get a ‘kapow’ on screen (or some similar onomatopoeia). However, the effect is quite different. The words on the screen in the silent movie are the only way to get dialogue across and are used sparingly. So rather than ‘kapow’ you would get ‘Slab!’ Now you can imagine all sorts of (dare I say it) amusing scenarios:
· The foreman shouts ‘Slab!’ pointing at the slab and the trainee builder excitedly (with a look of ‘getting it’ points at something random at shouts slab.
· The foreman then picks up the (heavy) slab and then the builder picks up a different heavy object mimicking the (weary, gritted teeth) look of the builder.
· Once more the foreman demonstrates picking up a slab and moving it to the desired place (x marks the spot), and then the builder starts walking in the right way (the foreman looks hopeful) but walks past it (he had taken exactly the same amount of steps but had a bigger stride.
· The foreman looks exasperated; the builder confused.
· When the builder finely gets it, the foreman does a merry jig (presumably then there would be a suitably funny/ ironic ending to the film such as tripping up over the slab and impaling himself on something sharp, G-d forbid!)
Now, it is of course the case that ‘looking confused’ for example, is something that only makes ‘sense’ from the point of our language and these concepts play no part in theirs. We only say it is ‘confusion’ because it is analogous to what we would call ‘confusion’ in our case. However, this is not a problem for three reasons: 1) calling it a ‘language’ at all is only because of certain analogies with our own (i.e. contains orders) 2) there is no other way to talk about situations involving primitive people or certain animals without representing them in language that has meaning for us 3) If there is a difference, and we(in our language) need concepts such as confusion; then this is the point Wittgenstein is trying to show. In our language the meanings of words aren’t exhausted by things that we can point to!
We are alright so long as we don’t say that the thought ‘I am confused’ crossed their mind. The only words that have meaning are the ones like ‘Slab!’ which appeared in the film. However, this is precisely the point! The other things weren’t signs or symbols and they played no part in what the meaning of the words were. Yet, they are the non-linguistic behaviours on which understanding is based. It shows that the words weren’t primitive reactions to stimuli, but were based on a ‘form of life’ in which words could be used in an intentional way. To call something language, we need understanding and meaning and the builders example plausibly helps to illuminate those concepts.
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