“What is the relation between
names and
what they name || the
named?”
–
Well, what
is it? Look at
the || our
lang
uage game (
4), or
at some other
language game;
you can see there || that's
where you'll see what this relation consists
in.
This relation may,
among various other things, || Among various things, this
relation may consist
also in the fact that
hearing the name calls up
an image of the thing
named in our minds || in our minds an image of the
thing¤, and it
sometimes consists
among other things also in
the fact that the name is written on the thing named, or that
it || the name is
uttered when the thing named is
pointed t
o.
But what
does the word
“this” name || is the word
“this” a name of in
the
language game (
11), or
26
¤ the word
“that” in the ostensive explanation
“that || in the ostensive explanation
“this is called …”?
Well, if you don't want to
introduce || give rise
to || produce confusion it is best
not to say that these words name anything.
– And
, curiously
enough
, it was once said of the word
“this” that it is the
real name.
Ever
ything else that we call
“name”
is so || being a
name only in an inexact, appro
ximate
sense.
This curious view has its origin in a
tendency to sublimate – as we might call it – the logic
of
our language. The proper
answer to it is:
We || we
call widely
different things “names”; the
word “name” character
ises many
different
sorts || kinds of
use of a
word || uses of words, related to
one
another || each other in many different ways; – but
among these kinds of
use || uses is
not that of the word “this”.
It is true that we often,
for
instance || e.g. in
giving an ostensi
ve
defi
ni
tion, point to
the || a thing
named
and in doing so pronounce
the || its
name. And similarly we pronounce
, || – for
instance || e.g. in an
ostensive definition
, || – the word “this”
as we point || in
pointing to
the || a
thing. And the word “this” and a name
can often
have the same
syntax || stand in the same
context: we say “Fetch
this”, and also “Fetch
Paul”.
– But it is
precisely one of the characteristic features of a name that
its meaning || it is explained by
t
he demonstrative
“
That || This
is N” (or
“
That || This
is called
‘N
’”).
But do we also explain,
“That
is called ‘this’”, or perhaps even
“This is called
‘this’”? || “This
is called ‘this’”?