Wittgenstein's method is simple: ‘Describe language-games!’.

Abstract

There are many interpretations of what Wittgenstein's later approach entails and what its motivations are. Yet, despite extensive exegesis significantly deepening our understanding, his later approach—howsoever one interprets it—remains at best marginal and at worst ignored in contemporary philosophy. This is especially puzzling given the general consensus that Wittgenstein is a very influential philosopher. I suggest a change in approach. Rather than focussing on the potential differences to be found in Wittgenstein's work, in this essay I propose that Wittgenstein's later approach entails a core overarching method, which Wittgenstein summarises through a simple instruction: ‘Describe language-games!’ (PI §486). I first explicate this instruction before contrasting it with the dominant method in philosophy and proposing that a recently promoted philosophical approach—Investigative Ordinary Language Philosophy—offers a practical way by which to put Wittgenstein's method into action.