Time Slots and Titles

Ludwig Wittgenstein's book Philosophical Investigations was published in 1953 (Wittgenstein 1984a), which was coincidentally also the high point of the ‘golden age’ of American television. We know nothing of Wittgenstein’s television experience, but his book dealt with the problem of the definitional power of concepts. He argued that, with regard to the living use of language, it is impossible to explain precisely and conclusively when and on the basis of which features a concept comprises an object or phenomenon. In a short and frequently cited passage, he refers in particular to games, which not coincidentally was also one of his own central concepts (Ibid., 225-580; here276-283 [§ 65-§ 76]). According to Wittgenstein, the concept of the game does not refer to any single consistent characteristic common to all activities. There are similarities between games that share certain characteristics and properties, but there are no common features that are exhibited by all games. For example, many but not all games feature competition with winners and losers. Ball, card, and board games also have common as well as distinctive features, as there are some similarities between all of these categories yet the features shared by all of the games in one category would not necessarily be shared by those in other categories.