Regular visitors to Wittgenstein on Learning may have noticed that the topic-specific glossaries, such as the Aspect Seeing and the Knowledge glossaries, are not organised alphabetically. Consequently, until recently, I have been asking visitors to infer the logic of each glossary from the order of the terms. As of today, the logic is made a bit more explicit. Each of the topic-specific glossaries now includes an introductory paragraph near the top of the page.

For instance, the paragraph for the Practices Glossary is as follows:

The concepts of practice, of cultural practices, of communities of practice, of language games, of rules, and of rule following play particularly important roles in the Philosophical Investigations.  It is important to draw a distinction between practices and activities. Activities are actions that we engage in and complete but without the expectation that they are significant or ongoing. Whereas a practice is something that is incorporated as meaningful actions/habits in our form of life which is to be valued. There is also a motivation to refine the practice, and there is a certain status attached to the practice. For instance, art as an activity is a curious things to do; whereas art as a practice takes on a significance that becomes an expressive tool to make sense of lived experiences. Similarly, religion as a practice fulfils a purpose that is unknown to the uninitiated. The practice relies upon there being a community of practice. It also relies on there being individuals who become initiated into that practice and - quite honestly - on there being others who are excluded.

This update is an example of the small updates being made to the site to better explain key themes and concepts. Please enjoy and explore!

p.s. Regular visitors may have missed that the Language Glossary was overhauled a few weeks back. In particular, the glossary now focuses almost exclusively on language, rather than language & literacy.