Wittgenstein's language games

A word's meaning comes from the circumstance in which they are uttered and the meaning of other words alongside them

If you use words in a way that doesn't follow the particular rules of the language then it won't make sense

Words only make sense in context

Language isn't private and is something shared by groups of people

Everyone is in a language game

It explains why words don't mean the same thing to everyone (because they're playing a different language game)

Example:The word 'goal' can mean different things depending on the context; it can mean a goal in football or an ambition depending on the language game you're playing

It doesn't accuse any language game of being wrong

It gives believers a way to express the meaningfulness of religious language 

It explains why God doesn't mean the same thing to an atheist as it does to a theist

It removes the link between claims made with language and empirical evidence

Religious beliefs are understood in an anti-realist manner

Nothing is prove-able or disprove-able 

It's an easy way out of assessing the meaning of language

Language games

Strengths

Weaknesses