Language, (meaning)interpretation, form of life: a textual (de)bifurcation

Abstract

This paper revisits the concept of “form(s) of life” used by Ludwig Wittgenstein in his later philosophy. The starting point is a query about what has been termed a text bifurcation, in the sense of an interpretative dispute that led to different schools in the reception of a given philosopher. The method used is to look at a crucial text passage and then expand the interpretative context up to the point where Wittgenstein’s argumentative strategy, which stages a polyphonic dialogue of contrasting voices involving various themes in a nonlinear manner, is seen in clearer contours. The result is what one could call a text debificurcation, in which disputing views are made compatible. The discussion is also relevant for an epistemic debate in translation studies, as a byproduct, the main concerns of the paper being of philosophical nature (the dissolution of an only apparent dichotomy).

Keywords
philosophy of language; L. Wittgenstein; text hermeneutics; translation