The Possibility of Giving Reasons. An Approach to the Wittgensteinian Paradox

Abstract

This paper sets out a reinterpretation of the so-called Wittgensteinian paradox that questions Kripke’s skeptical interpretation. The author retrieves those sections of the Philosophical Investigations where Wittgenstein criticizes ostensive definition as a criterion of meaning, and relates the idea of preeminence of meaning over reference to the possibility of giving reasons for the use of terms. Thus, by providing a revision of the connections between meaning and normativity, a reinterpretation of section 201 is advanced to the effect that Wittgenstein intended to dissolve the apparent paradox, rather than to offer a form of semantic skepticism.