“Form of Life” and the Problem of Its Identity in Later Wittgenstein’s Philosophy: A Critique of the Methodological Reading

Naderi Dareh Kat, Omid; Moghadam Heidari, Gholamhosein

doi:10.30465/ps.2026.55184.1840

“Form of Life” and the Problem of Its Identity in Later Wittgenstein’s Philosophy: A Critique of the Methodological Reading

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Omid Naderi Dareh Kat ¹

Gholamhosein Moghadam Heidari ²

¹ PhD Candidate in Philosophy of Science and Technology, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies (IHCS), Tehran, Iran

² Professor of Philosophy of Science and Technology Department, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran, Iran

10.30465/ps.2026.55184.1840

Abstract

The notion of “form of life” in Wittgenstein’s later philosophy, despite its occurrence in diverse contexts, has become a focus of interpretive debate. The central question is whether a unified identity and general role can be extracted from the notion’s multiple uses, or whether such unity results from imposing an interpretive framework on the text. The article first examines its historical background, showing that “form of life” was used before Wittgenstein within different frameworks. It then examines five of Wittgenstein’s uses: imagining a language, the connection between language and activity, agreement in judgments, psychological phenomena, and 'what is given'. The analysis shows that contextual differences do not justify positing a single identity; in these uses, form of life is part of the description itself, rather than a metaphysical foundation or an independent means of accessing what is described. The article then examines Anna Boncompagni’s methodological interpretation, which assigns form of life a general identity as a 'philosophical tool'. It argues that the presence of an expression within a philosophical movement does not establish that it is a tool; its role must instead be understood from the descriptive movement itself and from the way in which a problematic picture is dissolved.

Keywords

Wittgenstein

form of life

description

instrumentalism

Philosophical Investigations

Subjects

philosophy

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