Wittgenstein vs Socrates on Definitions and Explanations (James Klagge)
Wittgenstein described some of his views as being the opposite of Socrates'. Socrates famously sought essential definitions for concepts such as Truth, Justice, Knowledge, Goodness, Beauty, etc. This search for the definition or essential nature of things (i.e. the necessary and sufficient conditions for a given concept) is the very paradigm of philosophical or conceptual analysis. But according to Wittgenstein, such abstract terms do not have or do not need to have an underlying essence which all the particular instances have in common. We understand the meaning of such terms enough to be…
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