Abstract

This chapter clarifies the concept of ostensive definition as a fundamental method of assigning meaning to words. There are two issues at play in discussions of the role of ostensive definition and the connection between language and things. One is a metaphysical issue; the other is a developmental issue. In the commonplace sense of ostensive definition significant explanatory work is done by the grammar in which the pointing takes place. The first occurrence of “ostensive definition” in the Philosophical Investigations occurs at §6 when Wittgenstein generalizes the builder's language (§2) to a language for a whole tribe. The restriction of ostensive definition to explanations of meaning given to such learners means that ostensive definition only operates within grammar. At its most radical, the criticism of ostensive definition turns on the observation that ostension fails to determine any meaning whatsoever.